A Jewel In Water
by Pika876
Summary: A Royal Love story! This story occurs 8 years after Ash and the gang split up, after the Sinnoh Saga
1. Chapter 1

A Jewel in Water

Part 1

Princess Misty sighed. Her father hadn't yet found a suitor for her so eventually she could get married. Six months. That was how long she was looking for her potential husband, but she didn't have any luck. She had three choices left and those choices were her **ONLY** ones left, otherwise her father would have no choice other than to choose for her… and he had awful taste in husbands. She remembered the suitors her father chose for her sisters. That turned out a disaster, so they went out and searched for a husband themselves and they didn't do that badly either. However, after three goes he figured out that his methods weren't actually that good, so he wanted to use it only as a last resort. It was probably the best choice for her, considering that he had chosen all her previous boyfriends and they all turned out a disaster. Number One had no sense of humour. Number two dyed his hair pitch black with little voltorbs, here and there, (now that was hilarious) and then all his hair started falling out. And so on. She was hoping that unlucky Number Thirteen would be lucky for her. That was why she had a certain soft spot for the number 13. She had to get onto the throne in less than three months! She only wished that she could have a perfect marriage like her sisters:

Lilly was married to Prince James and together they were ruling the Kanto Region.

Daisy was married to Prince Roland and they were ruling the Johto Region.

Violet was married to Prince Harry and they were ruling the Hoenn Region.

And she was destined to rule the Sinnoh Region with, probably, whomever he father chose for her. Or in the worst-case scenario, it, along with all the other un-ruled lands would be handed to her cousins, both near and distant.

It was times like these that she longed for her mother. Her mother suddenly died in her sleep. Misty guessed it was the most peaceful way to die and there were worse ways to die. But still it was sometimes nice to relay thoughts to her. She would always be her favourite part of life. But then she remembered the time she left home to go on a journey. It was her duty to do that, as it was a family tradition. She had met two people, one of whom had a dream to become a Pokémon Master and the other wanted to become the world's best breeder. They went on an endless journey and met countless Pokémon. However, the journey had to, one day, stop. That was also the best part of her life. She was snapped out of this trance when her maid came marching in demanding her to go to bed. Misty reluctantly went to bed. She slowly drifted off to sleep, remembering that tomorrow would be her last three choices of husband, or otherwise she would have to go through the trouble of finding a husband in three months. In her dream she imagined that she was not married. She was old and everyone who saw her turned away in shame. They were all in queues to see her however, the moment they saw her they looked horrified and hastily made a get away. Misty, upon seeing everyone's reactions started to weep. Suddenly a glowing figure glided over to her and whispered, "Why couldn't you trust me?"

Misty's eyes snapped open. She reached for her face and found it dripping with cool water. "Maril, Maril," squealed her Maril as it jumped up and down on her bed spraying water on her bed sheets.

"What is it?" she asked sounding annoyed. Maril taking no note of her annoyance pointed at her clock. It was eight twenty-four! She had less than six minutes to get ready or she would make a bad impression.

"Thanks Maril," Misty called as she rushed to the bathroom.

"Ma-ril," sighed Maril.

Misty checked her clock as she put on her most expensive perfume there was; rather sloppily she thought. It was eight forty-five! No matter she thought. They will wait if they really want to marry me.

As Misty glided down the stairs, she spotted her father with only one person next to him.

"Oh; great! Two of them have already left! I have learnt my lesson of not to test a man's patience," She thought worriedly. But she soon realized that one of the two that wasn't here was going to be late. However, one of them refused to wait any longer and left. Not bad but not good either. She quickly collected herself and bobbed a rather quick curtsey.

"Hello Princess. It's a pleasure to meet you!" Number fourteen said as he laid a kiss on her hand. The reason she had numbered him and also the reason she had numbered him that number was because that's what she called all her husbands-to-be. She numbered them, I mean. The reason she called him fourteen instead of thirteen was because that the one that would be late would be 'better' than this one. She had a whole list of complaints about this one:

1. Whenever he got a chance he would flash his golden tooth. Even in mid sentence!

2. His hair was a bit scruffy.

3. He had too much jewellery on.

4. He spoke very highly of himself.

There were a dozen more reasons she could have thought but there was a loud knock at the door.

"Sorry to bother you Sir," she addressed the king "But Prince Ashton has arrived."

"Oh yes! Wonderful! Send him in!" exclaimed the king.

"Prince Ashton, Prince Ashton? Why does his name sound so familiar?" Misty thought. Also, she didn't say anything but she noticed when his name was said

Prince Elliot winced. "Oh!" she remembered in her head "He is the Pokemon Master isn't he? Well he is quite good looking in the photos..." Misty watched eye fully as he entered, said something inaudible to her father and turned around.

He walked a few steps but when he finally scrutinized every inch of her face he stopped and smiled broadly at her as if he knew her really well.

"Misty, Misty." Ash thought, "You don't have a clue who I am do you? Even after all those years together? Time for some fun."

"He isn't that bad," Misty thought "But there is something familiar about you.

It is as if I have known you for years. But surely this is the first time we have even met? Maybe some research will help clear things up..."


	2. Chapter 2

**A Jewel in Water**

**Part 2**

As Misty scanned across the computer screen she found a lot of things that caught her eye. She was in the Royal Technology Room.

"Ashton Ketchum?" she asked herself quizzically "Why does his name sound so familiar,"

"Well I can answer that Misty," an annoying voice said behind her.

"Rudy!" she yelled, not to pleased.

"Nice to see you remember me. Unlike Ash… whom I regret giving that Orange Island Badge to…" he said slyly but muttered the last part.

"Rudy stop this stupid act and explain to me about what you are talking about!" Misty said with a hint of venom in her voice.

"Misty, you have only met me like… twice remember? Of course you do!

The time on the Orange Islands and that meeting at the gym, this was two years after he left you. That day you broke my heart." He said with a disturbingly large smile. "Makes you think whom you like more…"

"I have no idea what you are talking about and why are you here anyway?" she said with no idea.

"I am one of your suitors silly!" he laughed.

"I only have two" Misty stated.

"Did your father tell you about the 'third suitor'?" he asked.

"What? The one that left?" she replied with a question of her own.

"Exactly! The one that 'left' or rather 'left to get you a present'," he said as if he was expecting something big.

"Why would I want ANYTHING from you? You are the lowest of the low and if you supposedly hate Ashton so much- and supposedly I was there so I should know what you are on about but surprisingly I don't- why did you give him that badge?" she asked rather quickly as if to catch him out.

"I may be, what you call, the 'lowest of the low' but I am (or was) a gym leader and gym leaders have to abide by the rules." He said as if it was obvious.

Misty was about to think of something witty to say but was interrupted by a knock on the door (which was twice that she was interrupted by the same thing) but this time it wasn't the maid, it was the whole cause of the conversation; Prince Ashton. She looked around to see Rudy's reaction but, surprisingly, he had slipped away. He had left a deep blue box on the table, next to where he was standing. Misty quickly grabbed the box; frightened that Prince Ash might thing something was going on if he saw Rudy escape. He obviously didn't but he was suspicious. You could tell because of the following:

"Sorry to intrude Princess, but is someone here? I thought I heard something."

"No no-one is here only me. And now you!" she said while she tried to subtlety close the window, on the computer (the website that she was about Ash) that she was on, in case he got offended that she didn't know him.

"Right…" he said as if he didn't believe her.

Ash had seen what she was researching, but didn't feel the least bit offended. He felt rather amused. Of course he had heard voices, they weren't that quiet and he also knew what that Misty and RUDY was talking about. After that big lecture she still hadn't realised that it was HIM. The one she had spent four years of her life with and also forgotten. He used to remember her as quite smart but also quite harsh person as he had more than a fair share of her hitting his head with her mallet. He was surprised that he had enough brain cells left to even become the Pokémon Master. At least he still had a chance to play around just a little, even if Rudy almost made her get to that conclusion. Considering how she abandoned him all those years ago, it was only fair to play a little joke on her. Well, if there was any good time to start the plan this would be the right time to do it. This might be the last time they could be alone.

"Princess, may I give you something?" he asked rather abruptly

"Why yes. Of course!" she asked as if he was compelling her to say it.

"Here," he said shyly as he passed her the cerulean blue wrapped box. "I've heard that its your favourite colour, so I got it for you."

"Strange… how does he know my favourite colour?" Misty thought.

"Ok…the plan, the plan, the plan… Oh what am I on about? I didn't think of what to do from here! I don't even know how to trick her! I think I may need some help on this." Ash admitted (to himself) as he walked out of the room "Oh no! I forgot Pikachu! He is still waiting outside for me!" Ash remembered then dashed outside.

Meanwhile Prince Elliot walked purposefully where Ash had just been. He needed to tell Misty the truth. He can't marry someone if he is in love with someone else! Even, if that person might be in love with someone else too! But he has to tell Misty that he was dropping out of this rat race called "Marriage" and he was going to tell her WHY…


	3. Chapter 3

**A Jewel in Water**

**Part 3**

"Elliot, this is it…" Prince Elliot said to himself "Tell her…NOW!"

He barged into the room, and Misty snapped out of her Ash filled stupor, to see a very pale Prince Elliot. He was breathing hard and sweating. Almost like he had just run a marathon to speak to her. Could this be him proposing before anyone else? How sweet, he had a lot of guts to be the first one, and show it so obviously.

Misty was staring at him waiting for him to say something. In his point of view she looked very frustrated. He thought that she had already found out however, he just wanted to make sure that he, himself told her. But just as he was about to say something the maid scurried into the room.

"Princess! Princess!" she called as she entered the room. When she saw Misty she had a relieved but flustered expression on her face. "Princess, there is a COMMOTION outside."

Misty groaned "Why is he here?" she asked no one in particular "I thought that we sent him back to his Parents' castle!" She quickly walked after the maid leaving Elliot alone.

"Damn…Typical! Just typical! This is going to keep on happening until one day she will find out by mistake! Will I just let that happen? And what if _she_ sees me with her? She will never trust me again." And with that Elliot left the room to convey his thoughts to a wall (another thing to add to Misty's list of imperfections). As Misty glided over to the big COMMOTION outside she looked down at her hands. In them she saw the two boxes in her hand. Rudy's dark blue box gave off an eerie aura while the one that Ash gave her gave off a friendly and light-hearted aura. She wondered what Prince Elliot wanted to talk to her about. Hopefully he wasn't going to give her another gift; that would strange beyond belief, however, if he did she wondered what colour the box would have been. Probably purple, seeing as she wore so much of it. But the weirdest thing was that Ash seemed to know her favourite colour, since she made everyone think it was orange because it was so rare that you would ever find something that exact colour of cerulean. So if everyone knew that all the cerulean things in the world would fly off the racks, because, not that she was bragging or anything, but she had a fairly large fanbase.

Just as Misty was pondering this she heard a noise that always irritated the hell out of her.

"Hey, babe!" the sixteen year old voice called.

"Excuse me? I thought you were at your parents' castle!" she yelled at him.

"Yeah…but do you expect me to just wait until you get married so I can't have you?" he stated.

"Sorry, but I have three more choices so, buh-bye," she said as she tried to push him out of the castle gates.

"Nuh-uh!" he said as he escaped out of her grip.

"Uh-huh," she said as she looked at him in annoyance. Then they started a "Uh-huh" and "Nuh-uh" fight. Misty was getting very annoyed but he seemed amused.

"No! The King said that I could be your fourth choice!" he lied.

Misty just gave up and told him to sleep in the spare room and wondered to find Elliot and ask him what he was about to say.

"That boy... He acts more like a six year old rather than a sixteen year old!" she murmured to herself.

Before that, Ash was in the PokeGarden (PG) cooing Pikachu and tying to convince him to stay there for a while longer.

"Look, Pikachu, if you appear on my shoulder that might jog her memory and that would ruin everything because she might banish me for doing that thing I did eight years ago." he sighed. Pikachu looked thoughtful and touched Ash's arm, finally understanding why his trainer couldn't be with him. Ash told Pikachu that he could stay in his room for the time being and eat as much PokéCham as he liked in there. Pikachu was overjoyed since this was his favourite food. But, it wasn't as if Pikachu was going to be alone in there. No way. Of course all of Ash's Pokémon would be there, naturally. Luckily, the King had been very generous in lending him the biggest room in the castle (other than the other already inhabited rooms, and it was MASSIVE! So being Pokémon Master really did have some perks. Other than the suspense everyday, wondering if you are going to lose one of your battles and giving up your title of Pokémon Master.

As he was collecting all his things to take to his room (and while Pikachu was eyeing him suspiciously to see if he was telling the truth about those PokéCham) he heard some shouting. Both of the voices he heard were pretty familiar. He knew that one of them belonged to Misty but he had no idea who the other one belonged to, so he went to investigate. As he turned the corner a big smile came to his face.

"Kenny!" Ash shouted and waved to him.

"Hey Ash!" Kenny waved back "How's it going?"

"Pretty good. Hey, I didn't know you knew Misty. How did you meet?" Ash asked

"Well, was walking down the street, concentrating on walking right and I heard a beautiful voice say to me 'Excuse Me' and that was it. All I had to do was look at her face and I was in love and don't tell anyone this but I am going to be her husband." He added.

"Good, good." Ash said as he looked around, distractedly.

"If you're looking for Dawn she is behind that bush over there," Kenny sniggered.

"Good god! Look bye Kenny I got to go," Ash replied hurriedly.

"Kenny! You are such a moron!" said a sixteen-year-old girl as she appeared from behind a bush. "Ash wait, please come back," but it was too late. Ash had left the building, or garden as it was.

"Dawn, just give up. He doesn't like you in that way. He told you about eighty times already." Kenny chortled.

"Well, what about you and 'what's her face' then?" Dawn replied back.

"DO NOT CALL THE LOVE OF MY LIFE THAT!" Kenny shouted.

"Too bad she doesn't love you back," Dawn giggled and just like that they sprung into a fully fledged argument about the loves of their lives. But just then a dark figure glided up to them and said

"Sounds like a lover's quarrel,"


	4. Chapter 4

**A Jewel In Water**

**Part 4**

"Me and him/her?" Kenny and Dawn asked at the same time.

"And in perfect sync too!" The person giggled.

"Oh! Just come off it, who ever you are!" Kenny shouted

"By the way… Who are you?" Dawn asked curiously.

"I am May from Petalburg City…" May said. The three of them got into a fully fledged discussion about the journeys they had been on (separately) until Ash , somehow, crept into the picture much to Kenny's dismay.

"Wait a second! You knew my darling Ash?" Dawn asked inquisitively.

"Yes, of course! We travelled together for two years!" May exclaimed "But what's with that 'darling' thing

"She is just crazy for him, May!" Kenny laughed.

"Yes, I am. But, at least my relationship is going better than yours!" Dawn snarled.

"Oh right! That's why she gave me a room in the castle?" Kenny asked sarcastically.

"Only because there was obviously something on her mind and-" Dawn shot back.

"Wow," said May elongating the word "You two really are in love," The two 'lovebirds' glared at each other with daggers in their eyes and stomped off.

Time quickly flew by and before everyone knew it, it was lunchtime. Misty looked around. She was totally shocked. Within three hours, three extra guests had entered the castle! The way her luck was going, everyone would be here in no time! It was very lucky that her father owned such a big castle. As she scanned the room, her eye caught Rudy, who was staring intently at her. The expression on his face was a rather amused one. She quickly looked away when her eye caught another, less familiar, face. The other person's gaze was directed to Ash. Misty stared at her in mystification and wondered what the relationship between those two were and would strive hard to find out. She didn't know why she had to pry into Ash's private life because it was really none of her business, but she felt like she had to do it. Directly opposite Misty, May was quietly looking at Kenny. She saw that he was staring at Dawn, but he didn't exactly have an expression of hatred on his face…in fact it was quite the opposite! May smiled to herself and remembered the boy that she had (and still has) a huge crush on. That's when her gaze was brought to a person wearing A LOT of purple; Prince Elliot.

There was a sudden clink on a glass. Everyone hushed and was snapped out of their thoughts and looked for the source of the noise. It was Ash.

"May I be excused please?" he asked. Everyone said yes simultaneously except for Rudy who just sniggered, childishly. Ash took no note of this and strode out of the room. As soon as he went out, however, no one went back to his or her original thoughts or conversations. They all thought about Ash.

"How rude!" Rudy exclaimed. "Leaving during this wonderful feast!"

"Prince Rudy…" May smiled sweetly "Put a sock in it, ok?"

The room was filled with laughter as the group slowly, but surely, devoured the food that occupied the table and made their way to their rooms for a little R&R.

During the rest of lunch, Ash had been looking after his Pokémon, making sure they were in tiptop shape and fed them all.

"I need to call Brock soon, I think. He would know what to do since he is such a hit with the ladies now. I need him to help me trick Misty, and while I'm at it Rudy too. But I don't know how to trick them, and what to trick them about," Ash muttered

"Look guys," he declared. "I'm only doing this because I don't want you to be cooped up in your Pokéballs and look next door, they installed a Pokémon Paradise for you lot… they must've thought I was mental when I asked them to install it… but promise me, you guys, you will NOT appear in front of Misty, especially you Pikachu?"

The Pokémon all agreed and ran off in different areas of the PP (Pokémon Paradise) but Pikachu stood there sulking.

"What's up pal?" Ash asked

"Pika, Pika!" Pikachu cried. ("That's not fair!")

"Look Pika-" Ash started but just as the door opened to reveal…Misty! "Damn!" Ash thought "This is exactly what I didn't want to happen! Now she will remember THAT day and probably kick me out! I didn't even last a day!"  
"What the hell is going on here?" thought Misty.


	5. Chapter 5

**A Jewel in Water**

**Part 5 **

"Oh my gosh!" Misty exclaimed.

"Here it comes…" Ash thought while wincing.

"What an adorable Pikachu!" she beamed "Aww its cheeks are so chubby and cute," she ran over and started squeezing Pikachu as if it was a little toy.

Ash exhaled deeply. What? That was all? No sudden recollection or anything? He may have still loved Misty, and may have been overjoyed by being given the chance to marry her, but did she really want to forget him so much that she wiped all memories related to him out of her brain?

"Princess," he said curtly. "You may touch Pikachu as much as you like, but please may you do it outside my room? I have some serious matters to attend to."

"Oh… No problem?" she left Pikachu in his room and left, completely forgetting what she wanted to ask him. What was the matter with him? Did she do something wrong?

Ash punched the wall and breathed out. Pikachu looked disinterested. Just his pride acting up again.

"That's it. I'm calling Brock. I can't wait any longer. Next time she sees me, I will be acting out my plan.

Meanwhile, May was walking down the grand hallways that lead to her room somewhere. After seeing Prince Elliot, she was immediately reminded of the boy she loved. Heck, she followed him all across the globe just to see him once in a while, as well as competing with him. But after the last Grand Festival in Unova, he… just disappeared. Everywhere she asked, no one had every heard of a 'Drew Hayden'. The love of her life had just disappeared like that. And here she was attempting to get to know one of her good friends suitors a bit better. No loyalty there at all. In frustration she tried to kick a nearby pillar, however she completely missed and managed to hit someone on the head with her flying shoe: Prince Elliot La Rousse.

"Great," she thought, "Just who I wanted to see, right?"

"Um, pardon me, but I believe this is your shoe?" he said with a smirk.

"Aha, ever so sorry" she said bowing her head in embarrassment.

"Haven't changed at all, eh?" he said.

"Huh? What?" she said, had she heard wrong?

"Oh, I said… you should try playing football. You have a very nice kick." He said swiftly.

"Oh right," she laughed. Apparently so.

"You wouldn't happen to have seen the Princess around here?" he asked hesitantly. He didn't want to leave May but his priorities lied elsewhere.

Mays eyes, which were sparkling with joy and nervousness, had dulled down. Of course he would look for Misty. If he weren't interested in her, he would not have accepted the offer of marriage from her. It wasn't May he was interested in. She said sullenly "Oh, she must be in her room. She was heading that way before."

"Thank you!" Elliot said, whilst looking at her with longing. He pulled himself away and headed towards Misty's room.

"I told you! The twerp told us to come over with all his Pokémon stuff, why don't you believe me?" Said a tall man with violet hair.

"Because last time you told us that, we ended up trekking all the way to Hoenn, from Kanto, to see a bottle cap exhibit," cried an equally as tall woman with long fuchsia hair.

"Quit your yapping you guys." A Meowth screamed angrily whist clawing its two companions faced. "I had enough of yous guys whilst we was walking down, now lets get to the twerp and get back to the beach we were at. Don't you wanna get back to our holiday?"

"Oh shut up Meowth! If you hadn't opened your big trap in the first place and made that deal with the twerp, we wouldn't be his personal delivery service in the first place!" snapped the woman.

"Why you-!" hissed the Meowth.

"Hello Brock?" said Ash as Brock picked up the phone.

"Hey Ash!" Brock called, "How's it going over there with Mistaay?"

"You see Brock that's the problem. Its not going anywhere, because I don't want it to."

"What the hell? Why not? You were so excited that day; you bloody blew my ear off with all the trash you were throwing. I lost a date because of you. What will happen if people think that I am actually in men? How will you help me out of that-,"

"Right Brock, shut up for a second. This is important. I need a plan to get back at Misty. She's forgotten me can you believe it?"

"It's that bad huh?"

"Yes, it is. So what can I do? HELP ME!" Ash pleaded.

"Well I have a good idea. If you don't mind changing your sexuality for a while."

"What? Is this payback for what I did to you?"

"Well partly. But also, I've seen it on TV but I wonder what its really like you know?"

"Oh yeah of course I know, so next time, you dress up as a girl and try to enter an all girls school, because I've always wondered what that's really like too, ok? MORON,"

"Oh my god, that would be such a good way to score chicks!"

"You-!" Ash started.

"Just kidding. But, seriously. Make her fall for you. But don't let on that you know and don't reciprocate her feelings. Then just hint that you're gay and she'll be shell-shocked. Then go surprise, kiss, and makeup and bam- you're married with 12 kids and no freedom."

"That sounds too complicated Brock,"

"Yeah, I thought it would be. A lot of intricate detail there too, that only I will be able to implement."

"Yeah, so that's such a great idea. How can you help me when you're not here? I thought you were in Sinnoh collecting some new species of berries they found."

"Well I was. But I thought that I was missing out on a lot of fun. And I was missing out on the chance to find some royal chicks. So…" The line cut off.

"Hello? Hello?" Ash called frantically. What happened?

"SURPRISE!"


	6. Chapter 6

**A Jewel In Water**

Part 6

Misty went to sit in the lounge. She really needed a rest, even though she hadn't done anything too strenuous. But one thing was plaguing her mind a lot. Why did Ashton get so angry when she went to pet Pikachu? Could it be that he doesn't like people touching his things? Oh what a pain. If she married him in the future, she would have to fix that habit.

"Yo," someone then suddenly called from outside. Misty turned her head to look towards her window and found Paul sitting there.

"Paul? What are you doing here?" she asked surprised but exasperated. How many more people were going to come and visit the castle?

"Got an invite. Nothing big. Heard that you were going to get married soon, so came to wish you good luck. I have a feeling you'll need it.

"What? How does everyone know this? It's not like I-,"

"Whatcha got there in your hand?" he cut her off. Misty looked down and saw in her hand she was still carrying the two boxes that both Rudy and Ashton had given her.

"Open them then."

"Yeah I know." Misty said. "But first, come inside for goodness sake. You look like a complete idiot standing out there. And if I remember correctly, isn't that a blackberry bush you're standing in? You know they have thorns."

"Well, I seem to have missed the lunch hour, so I'm hungry. It's not like any of you would eat the blackberries here. What a waste." Paul said as he smoothly jumped through the window and into the lounge. He walked over to the sofa that Misty was sitting on and sat on it. "Don't just sit there. Open one!"

Misty looked down to decide which one to open first. Not that it was a hard decision to open Rudy's first. Bad news first, right? She opened it slowly to reveal a silver ring with tiny diamonds embedded on the band and a huge blue jewel sitting on the top of it. Paul laughed and said "As if the decoration wasn't bad enough, not one of those is real."

"How can you tell? Not that it's that surprising."

"Right look at them directly from the top."

"Ok."

"Can you see the bottom of them?" Paul asked.

"Yep."

"See? Fake."

"Typical. Giving me this trash and then just sneaking off. What an idiot. I wonder where he even went, without permission."

"Maybe roaming the castle? Maybe rummaging in your room?" Paul added with a wind. Misty involuntarily stood up. "Maybe we should take this conversation there. In case what you said was right."

"Lead the way," Paul said with a laugh. "Miss You-look-so-flustered-like-you're-about-to-faint,"

In actual fact it was Elliot that had been roaming the castle; he was lost. Why did this castle have to be so huge? He walked all over and he happened to come across a room with its door open. He peered inside and found Rudy fast asleep. Prince Elliot had recalled what Rudy said to him before Princess Misty had walked downstairs, and before he left:

"Hey, you," called Rudy

"What, me?" said Elliot

"Yes of course you, you ninny. Who else could I be bloody calling?"

"I don't think that you have the right to be speaking to me in that way."

"Well, I don't care, do I? As a mere butler, you have a lot of gall talking to me in this manner!"

"Ah! Gentlemen! Welcome!" called the King from the grand hall, as Rudy and Elliot entered to room. Elliot took this opportunity to push past Rudy and show him his 'true' self.

"Hello your majesty. I am Prince Elliot." He said with an extremely low bow. Rudy's mouth dropped and closed again. This guy? A prince?

After both men greeted the king, they were lead into the Meeting room and were left alone, awaiting Misty's arrival.

"A Prince? Of course. Are you sure that you are not an impostor?" Rudy snorted.

"I am more of a Prince than you will ever be." Elliot retorted.

"Yes, well aren't Princes supposed to be charming and regal? Not unfashionable and downright ugly?"

"What the hell is your problem? If the princess marries you, I think that her sanity should be in question. Or they should check you out for blackmail."

"Oh shut up. I am going to sue you if you slander me anymore. Anyway, where is this ruddy princess you keep going on about. I am not going to wait here any longer, for such an imbecile. I have a line of women just waiting to be my bride, probably more gorgeous than this 'princess' will ever be." And with that, Rudy stormed out.

"I'll be pleased to inform Princess Misty of your declaration." Elliot called after him.

Although what Elliot didn't know is that Rudy had heard his last comment. Just after he exited the main gates, two things clicked. Princess and Misty? Oh shit. This was Misty they were talking about. What the hell was he doing? How was he supposed to cover this up now? He got into his car, in the Royal Garages and drove down the main road. A few minutes later he found a cheap jewellery stand on the roadside. He parked his car quickly and ran over to the owner.

"Hey! Give me the most expensive looking thing you have!" he yelled. The guy looked at him like he was a lunatic, but he seemed in a rush, so it was a good chance to take advantage of a rich guy. Of course, he pulled out the ring that Misty was now looking at, and since Rudy had such bad taste, he snatched it up immediately.

"How much would that be?" he snapped

"£30 please." The man asked nervously.

"Bloody rip off, that is." Rudy moaned as he got a £50 note out of his wallet and threw it at the salesman, whilst grabbing the ring. "Keep the bloody change you twit." Leaving the insult hanging, Rudy got back into his car, turned around, which caused a lot of cars to beep at him, and drove back to the castle.

Anyway, Elliot's utterly appalling first meeting with Rudy left a bad taste in his mouth. Of course, while he was just lying on his bed sleeping, it would be the perfect opportunity to get back at him. He rummaged in Rudy's satchel that was lying on the chair and found a pen. Black, thick and permanent. Brilliant. Elliot crept over to Rudy's side and undid the pen. Holding back his laughter, he ran the pen all over Rudy's face and drew some especially rude images on each of his cheeks. After Elliot had had his fill of artistic ness for the day, he put the pen back in his bag, still with the lid off of course; he couldn't let Rudy off with just that, it wasn't harsh enough. Just wait till Rudy got up. If Elliot could get the others on his side, and let him be seen by Misty, or one of her family members, and watch as he acts his pompous self whilst those decorations embellished his face… it would be one of the funniest things to happen to date.

What a fun life!


	7. Chapter 7

**A Jewel In Water**

Part 7

A/N: - means new paragraph. It doesn't seem to show the new paragraphs in my previous chapters, which is extremely annoying. But desperate times call for desperate measures ;) Sorry if any of these gay references offend you! I am trying not to cross that line but please tell me if I do!

"Surprise!" called someone behind Ash.

"Brock. How predictable." Ash sighed.

"I know right? If you hadn't called me, then I wouldn't have been put on the spot. I could have totally surprised you.

"Right come on then. Now that you're here, you have to tell me about the plan. And you have to do it fast. Who knows when me and Misty will meet again." He dragged Brock into the castle and up to his room. He made sure that the door was shut, and that all his Pokémon were in the Pokémon Paradise. He turned around to face Brock who was sitting on the chairs next to his bed and took a deep breath.

"Ok. Tell me. What's the plan?"

Elliot was running across the castle now, looking for someone that he could tell his joke to, and who could help him in stopping Rudy from finding out and getting rid of the marks. As he skid across the ground hall, he found Kenny and Dawn in the Royal Library, not exactly being quiet.

"You know my Empoleon is so much more powerful than your tiny Piplup." Kenny exclaimed.

"Yes it is Kenny! God!"

"Look DeeDee, if this was a cuteness competition then Piplup would win, hands down. But seriously. One body slam from Empoleon could crush Piplup, and make it into soup. Elliot quickly cut in. It was doing a favour for them all probably.

"Uh, hey guys…" Elliot said. He wasn't sure how to approach these two. He didn't really want to peel them away from each other, but this was a more important cause.

"Oh hey." Said Dawn, hesitantly.

"Elliot right? What's up?" Kenny asked.

"Well, I don't know if you would be willing, but I really need some help with this. I just thought it would be funny, and a good way to pass the day, so you don't have to help me if you don't want to, but…"

"Well what is it?" Kenny asked both intrigued and excited.

"Actually, its…"

May was strolling out in the Royal Gardens, trying to forget everything that was going on around her, but that was short lived when she heard a roar of laughter from the nearby building. She looked through the window, to find a sheepish Elliot, trying not to laugh too much as the two lovebirds were laughing so much that they were crying. She knocked on the window, which made them all turn around and look at her. Kenny's face was full of excitement and he looked like he was about to wet himself with glee. He swung open the window, ready to spill everything to May, who, at this point, was utterly confused. She looked at Elliot, who had an all knowing look on his face, as he smirked at her, and Dawn who collapsed over the window frame trying to get her breath back.

"May. This guy is a flipping genius. He is amazing." Kenny laughed. Dawn suddenly got up.

"Oh my god. I have to see what he looks like! Where is he?" she cried. May looked at them both.

"Could you kindly explain to me what is so funny? What do you need to see?" she looked pleadingly at Elliot who smiled at her. Still with a smirk, which was becoming his signature look.

"May. Just follow us and you'll know," Kenny said with intermittent giggles.

Elliot pulled up May through the window, and said, "This castle is too big to walk around. It's much quicker climbing through the windows.

"I don't think that the cleaners appreciate it though," May replied embarrassedly as she spotted a few maid looking at them and having a good gossip. Elliot motioned for Kenny to lead the way, since he was the most experienced in and around the castle. Elliot would have done it himself, but he didn't want to risk looking like a fool in front of May. What he hadn't noticed was that the three were staring at him as he had a strong grip on May's arm. He shyly removed it, and Kenny and Dawn stole knowing glances at each other as the other two turned bright red.

Brock laughed out loud at Ash.

"Why so serious dude? Have fun. I mean, it's not like you're doing this because being a Pokémon master requires you to." Ash frowned. "Look, anyway I wrote this for you. This is an outline of the plan. However the priority right now is for me to secure a room here. Of course I'm here for the ladies too, but don't worry, I have my priorities too." Brock stated as he handed Ash the small folder with the plan inside it. He then left to find Misty as it were so that he could be granted a room. But he also wanted to look around the castle. To flirt of course but to see whom else was in the castle. Being a Pokémon Breeder was fun of course, but nothing was quite as fun as pranking other people. It was always a good laugh. And quite honestly, the more was definitely the merrier.

Back in his room, Ash had opened the folder and true to his word, Brock had left a very brief outline to the plan, along with some more papers, which elaborated the plan. The outline read:

_Now Ash,_

_ I know that you will find it hard to act out this scenario. But if you want to hurt Misty's pride, just like she hurt yours then you better follow this. It's a guaranteed success man. GUARENTEED._

Ash paused for a second. Did Brock really have nothing better to do on the plane than writing this? He had to give the guy some credit. He was definitely dedicated.

_You have to act gay. It's the only way._

_You have to find a 'gay partner' to act with you. Not me. Good luck._

_What you have to do is make Misty fall for YOU_

_While you do this, you keep dropping hints about your sexuality (see page 12)_

_Then when she finally asks you, act ignorant._

_A few days later, your 'gay partner' comes in and steals you away._

_Make sure you don't do the cliché 'Wedding Runaway'. Be Original! (see page 8 for more ideas)_

_That's all I've thought of. When the time comes, I'll give you the perfect ending._

_I'm gonna be here the whole time dude. Wouldn't miss this for the world._

_P.S. Find ACCOMPLICES. They are KEY._

Ash shut the folder. There was no way he was reading more. This plan was too funny for words. He would have to do it. Even though it completely tarnished his reputation, it was worth it.

Ash got up and walked out the door to find Brock. But just as he walked out of the door he saw Dawn, Kenny, May and someone else very familiar running up the main stairs onto the second level. So with no hesitation Ash shouted "Hey guys!"

They all turned to look at him, grinning like idiots and waved at him to hurry up and followed them. Meanwhile, a very content Rudy had woken up from his slumber…


	8. Chapter 8

**A Jewel in Water**

**Part 8**

A/N: Well the – thing for new paragraph didn't work, so I think I'm going to opt for the first word of every new paragraph being big and bold?

* * *

"**I'll** be right back ok?" Paul said to Misty "Just gonna go down to the kitchen and see if they have any leftovers."

"Oh don't do that, just ask them to make you something." Misty sighed.

"No need" said Paul as he walked out of the room. The room was left in silence.

"Hey Misty!" called Brock. Misty turned around in shock. Why was it that everyone was gathering at the castle today?

"Brock? How are you?" Misty cried as she ran up and embraced him.

"Pretty good, but I was wondering if you would be able to lend me a room. I was just passing by, when I remembered that you live near here, so I thought why not visit?" Brock explained.

"Freaky coincidence huh?" Misty teased.

"Erm, yeah, well news on the street is that you're getting married. Who's the lucky guy then?" Brock asked pretending to be oblivious.

"Well, that's just it. I have to choose him first." Misty sighed.

"Oh, who are the guys then?"

"I don't think you'll know any of them actually. But there's Sir Ashton, the current Pokémon Master, Prince Elliot, a contest battler, and Prince Rudy, an ex-gym leader." Misty stated.

"Well out of those choices, I guess the one most suited for you is…" Brock contemplated. Misty held her breath as the deliberation took place. Who could it be? For some reason Misty was hoping that it would be Ash.

"Well, of course it should be Rudy!" Brock exclaimed.

"What? Rudy?" Misty was completely shocked. "Why?"

"Oh, you don't like him? Well seeing as you are both ex gym leaders, I thought that you would be perfect for each other."

"Yeah right." Misty snorted. "I am NEVER going to marry him. EVER."

"Ok then, well I'll meet the other two and then tell you about which one is best."

"But first I'll show you to your room. Sorry, this may take a while because we have quite a few guests today." Misty led him out of her room, and down the hallways, to find a vacant room. That's when she saw Ashton, May, Elliot, Dawn and Kenny running excitedly upstairs, and at top speed.

"Wonder what's going on." Brock said, actually clueless.

"**So** guys, what's the rush?" Ash panted.

"Wait Ashy, its better if we don't tell you," Dawn replied. Ash felt put out. But really excited.

"All we can tell you is that Rudy is involved." Elliot informed him.

"Excellent!" Ash beamed. Now he was extremely excited. As they made it to the top of the stairs, they slowed down to a creep as they made it towards Rudy's room. Their heads peered around the corner and there he was; the sleeping beast. With inappropriate images adorning his head, just the thought of him acting his pretentious self whilst he looked like a complete fool, was enough to get the guys into fits if laughter.

"You know what we need to do right?" Ash asked.

"Huh, what?" Asked May. Elliot watched the two reunited travellers talk and felt a pang of jealousy. Ash looked towards Elliot and smiled. Crap. Was he found out?

"Well, before he wakes up, we need to get all the mirrors don't we?" Ash said.

"Of course!" cried Kenny. All of them sneaked into Rudy's room and took down all the mirrors in the room, even rummaging in Rudy's luggage to find even the slightest of reflective surfaces. They started piling them up outside the room. Misty, who had been looking for a room for Brock, who was trailing behind her, then came across the scene.

"What are you guys-?" she started to yell, but before she could finish, Elliot ran to out his hand over her mouth. Now it was Mays' turn to get jealous.

"This must be Elliot," Brock guessed, whilst nodding at Ash to start the plan. Ash took a deep breath and grabbed Misty's hand. Elliot released her, much to May's satisfaction, and brought her to the door so that she could see Rudy. He motioned for Brock to come as well, who obediently followed.

They couldn't stop themselves from smiling as his face came into view.

Ash quickly silenced everyone and made them pick up a mirror, so that they could move them into the next room quickly and leave to laugh as much as possible.

**As** the group of seven came into the living room, they all smiled and the atmosphere of the room was lifted to new heights. That's when some of the crew had finally noticed that Brock was with them.

"Brock?" shouted Dawn, Kenny and May at the same time.

"Yep that's me." Brock smiled.

"When did you get here?" Asked May.

"Oh just about half an hour ago." He replied.

"I didn't even notice you there" Kenny said "What brings you here?"

"Oh well, I was passing by. But the real question here is why are you all here?"

"Well, you know, I am the fourth choice." Kenny stated. Brock looked at Misty and she sighed helplessly.

"Fourth?" Brock asked confusedly "Misty didn't mention you. I didn't even know that you knew her either.

"Well, it's a small world I guess." Shrugged Kenny.

"But I always thought that you liked Dawn," Brock teased. Kenny looked at Brock in shock, then at Ash, then finally to Dawn, who was a bright red. "You did want her to travel with you, if I remember correctly. You even waited at that lighthouse for her answer."

"BROCK!" screamed Kenny "DON'T SAY ANYTHING ELSE!"

As they all laughed at Kenny and Dawn, Ash took this moment to grab Elliot. Not really part of the Trick Misty Plan, but he was curious about something.

"Elliot, can I speak to you?" Elliot looked dumbfounded. Oh shit. That smile that he had given him really did mean something. He knew something.

"Uh, sure." He replied hesitantly. Ash led him outside the room and into the sub-lounge, making sure that no one was around. He edged closer towards Elliot, making him back up against the wall, and leaned in.

"So. Elliot. Can I ask you something?" Ash asked slowly.

"Sure… but do you mind backing off a bit?" Elliot asked nervously.

"Aha, sorry, just thought that I could build the tension a bit," Ash laughed. "But can I ask, why are you here? As Elliot?" Ash knew. He definitely knew.

"Elliot is my real name." Elliot said, trying not to spill the beans right off the bat.

"Really? Then was all that a charade?" Ash asked taken aback.

"Well, sort of. But it was necessary."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Hey Ash!" called someone from the doorway. He sniggered as he saw Elliot against the wall and Ash blocking his way out. "Sorry, was I interrupting something?"


	9. Chapter 9

**A Jewel in Water**

**Part 9**

**Ash** turned his head abruptly to see who was speaking to him.

"Paul?" he asked shocked "What are you doing here?" Paul took a bite from a cheese sandwich he had gotten from the kitchens, and said

"Better question is: What are you TWO doing in here, ALONE?" Elliot got extremely embarrassed, but Ash seemed to look cool about it.

"Private matters, which we'll get back to later," he turned and looked at Elliot, "I'll talk to you later." Elliot took this as a chance to leave. Once he had left, Ash turned back to Paul.

"Paul!" he cried. "It's so good to see you!"

"Yeah, whatever loser," Paul replied whilst absorbedly eating his sandwich.

"So I'll ask you again, what are you doing here?" Ash asked.

"Is it so wrong to visit my cousin?" Paul said.

"…Cousin…Cousin?" Ash said dumbfounded.

"Yep, you got it right. Want a medal?" Paul said, but then he realized "Oh no. You aren't one of the three choices? Are you?" Ash, after having a completely shocked look on his face, started to laugh extremely loudly, which caused the guys in the next room to come over and see what the commotion was about. Ash couldn't take any more. He wasn't laughing because anything was funny, but because he was too shocked to react any other way. What a day, eh?

**Dawn **entered the room and saw Paul, mouth wide open with bits of his sandwich still visible.

"God, Paul. Can't you chew with your mouth closed?" Dawn asked disgustedly.

"Oh Paul? I think I saw you on TV," Kenny quizzed. "Hmmm, where was it?" Paul was suddenly awakened from his stupor and looked around, to see Kenny and Dawn standing there staring at him. "Oh, it's you." He stated simply.

"After all this time, that's all I get?" Dawn asked, ready to get into a fight.

"Hey guys, calm down. It's been a while, let's not get too negative with each other!" Ash cooed.

Misty walked into the room to see Paul, with his sandwich, and said:

"Oh, you got your food, that's good." But then she realised that Ashton, Kenny, Dawn and Paul were looking at each other with familiar looks on their faces. Paul looked at Kenny and then suddenly something clicked on his head.

"Oh, I remember you. You were the one that lost the first round of the Grand Festival a few years ago!" he stated. Simultaneously something clicked in Kenny's head too.

"I remember you too! You are Misty's cousin that was with her the first time I saw her," Dawn looked at Kenny in an annoyed way for bringing up Misty. So she turned her head to Ash, and grasped his arm. Misty looked over to their direction and felt a pang in her heart. Jealousy?

"**Are **you sure the twerp is here?" cried Meowth

"That's what he wrote on the letter," moaned Jessie.

"Come on you guys! Let's sing a song while we walk," James said encouragingly. "To protect the world from devastation, to unite all-,"

"Oh shut up James!" cried Jessie and Meowth at the same time. As the continued to argue, Meowth came across a sign saying 'Pewter City Ahead →' and said:

"Look here guys, we must be close now!" Jessie looked ahead at the sign hesitantly.

"But you know... there is that cave we have to pass..." she mumbled.

"...What kind of cave?" James asked unwillingly.

"I don't know what's in it, but I know there'll be a lot of wild Pokémon in there and if we are even more unlucky, there'll be a lot of trainers just itching to have a go at us." she cried.

"This is all the twerps fault! I just hope that he gets a whole lotta bad luck for putting us through this," Meowth cursed.

**Back **at the castle, whilst everyone had relocated to the lounge to talk, Ash let out a huge sneeze. Was someone talking about him? He could guess who it was. Obviously the Team Rocket trio hadn't enjoyed the revenge that he was carrying out for all the years he was tortured by them. Everyone looked at him, as he had, yet again, stopped all conversation in the room.

"Um... I'll just take a walk outside, be back soon," he said embarrassedly. He saw Dawn about to open her mouth, and guessing what she would say, he replied "Wont be a minute, need some time on my own," and ran out the room. Once he made sure he was far enough away from the others, he got out his mobile phone and quickly typed in some numbers and held the phone to his ear. As the phone rang, he looked around where he was standing. In front of him was a large pond, and some Poliwags were swimming around in it and playing. Next to the pond stood a large tree with other wild Pokémon playing... and a Pikachu? A very familiar Pikachu in fact. Ash hung up the phone as he drew nearer to the Pikachu, keeping his eyes fixed on it.

"PIKACHU!" he cried. "What are you doing out here?" Pikachu turned quickly and saw Ash. It looked guiltily at him before making a hasty get away. "No PokéCham for you. Next time you want to come out, ask permission!" he called after it. Then from the room behind him, someone poked their head out of the window.

"Are you alright, Sir Ashton?" said the King very curiously. Ash was taken aback. Oh no! Had he gotten on the wrong side of the king already?

"Oh, er, yes your majesty, sorry for the disturbance." he said nervously.

"No matter, I was getting a bit bored anyway. Would you like to join me for a cup of tea?" the King asked as if Ash had a choice.

"Of course, I'll just make my way around." he said as he started to make his way around.

"Oh no need for that! Just jump through the window" the King guestured towards the window whilst moving out the way.

**But** deep inside the castle, a sly and cunning monster had awakened from his slumber.

"Oh must have dosed off," he said as he looked at his watch. "Now to check on myself before I try and get Misty." he chortled but to his surprise, there were no mirrors in his room. He could have sworn they were there before! He whipped around and headed towards the doors. What fiend could have stolen all the mirrors in his room? He could not have guessed quicker, even though it was the wrong person, and he rushed to find Ash, not knowing what adorned his face as he did so...


	10. Chapter 10

**A Jewel in Water**

**Part 10**

**Rudy** approached the hall, where the rest of the party were currently residing, however from another room, he could hear the soft voices of two people talking. Being the nosy person he was he headed straight for it to see if there was any gossip he may be able to pick up. But to his delight, when he got there, he saw the king.

"Excellent." Smiled Rudy. Now there was a chance for him to show off his amazing-ness. But still, the makeup that was decorating his face went unnoticed by him, and maybe he should have pursued the mirror crisis before trying to make himself look better in front of people. But he knew that if he wanted the Kings attention, he would need to get rid of the company.

"So how are you finding your stay?" the King asked Ash.

"Very good, thank you! I cannot express my gratitude enough for letting you keep my Pokémon in the castle as well. I feel that I've spoilt them too much." Ash gushed.

"That's fine, my boy! If the Pokémon Master is having a break, then no doubt the Pokémon should as well!" Gah. It was Ash hogging the lime light was it? No way was Rudy going to let this one go. With two big strides, Rudy entered the room, and bellowed his arrival.

"Why hello there, your majesty!" he cried.

"**So** when do you think he'll wake up?" pestered Kenny.

"What are you talking about?" asked Paul who had finally finished his sandwich and was contemplating whether or not he should spill the beans on Ash and Elliots' secret meeting.

"I'm talking about the prank we played on Rudy!" said Kenny, completely forgetting in his excitement that he had not told Paul about what had just recently happened.

"Elliot just scribbled all over Rudy's face I think. Don't worry, now I know as much as you." Said Brock. "But Paul! It's been a long time! How have you been after Sinnoh?"

"Fine I guess. Finally beat Brandon after a couple of goes. How were you and Ash?" Paul asked, trying to mask his genuine interest.

"I did pretty well, improved my breeding skills, to say the least. About Ash I wouldn't know."

"Huh? What do you mean?" quizzed Paul.

"I mean that after that me, Dawn and Ash all went our separate ways. I haven't asked Ash anything about what happened after that, and he's not told me anything either. But I guess that we are both busy people now. Never have long enough to talk."

"What you talking about over here guys?" interrupted May. She was sick of watching Elliot near Misty and decided she would relocate herself.

"Nothing really." Dismissed Paul. He had never met this girl before, and he didn't particularly like her interrupting this conversation. To tell the truth, he was itching to have a battle with the Great Pokémon Master! This was the best chance for him to surpass his greatest rival.

"Oh…" May may have been bored, but she got the hint.

"I need to go somewhere. Be back later."

"Don't forget to come back Paul! You won't want to miss the show." Kenny shouted after him. But everyone seemed to want to follow him out of the room.

"On second thought, I need to leave too." Said May. "Need to sort out my room for a bit."

"Now that you mention it, I need to too." Agreed Brock. Much to Kenny's dismay everyone started to head back to their rooms, and he decided that he would do so too.

"Guys. At least promise that if he wakes up you won't say anything to him. Call us all together first." And with that, everyone was off.

**Deep** in the Diglet Cave, were Team Rocket.

"Hey you! How much longer do we have to go?" complained Jessie, as she trudged through the cave.

"I don't know but we better not be far away from the exit because this torch is going to go any second now!" cried James.

"Shut your pie hole you two! If we don't get out of her fast then we'll be mobbed by some other trainers! Yamask don't look up to fighting no more battles."

"….hey!...Hey! Is there anyone there? Do you want a Pokémon battle? Ha, as if you have a choice."

"You know." Muttered Jessie, "Can't we just blast out of here?"

"Wait, wait, wait!" cried James, the happiness was obvious in his voice. "There, look!" he pointed over at a hole with light pouring through it. "Guys, it's the exit! It's the door of hope!" he dragged the other two towards the door, and they emerged into the wide open air. "We're here! We're here!"

"Yes, thanks to my map reading skills. Admit it, you guys couldn't survive without me." Meowth gloated.

"Oh, you're right Meowth." Said James as he fell to Meowths' feet and sobbed exaggerated tears. But Jessie was less impressed, especially after seeing the City's welcome sign.

"Hey. Meowth. Where did the twerp say we had to go?" asked Jessie.

"Cerulean City of course."

"…..THEN WHY ARE WE IN VERMILLION CITY?"

**The** King and Ashe exchanged glances. But Ash quickly looked away to hide his face. The King sighed and looked towards Rudy. How was he going to handle this? He did not want to be the bearer of bad news for this guy, and pointing this out to him may humiliate him to the point of no return. Could he risk doing that to his daughters could be husband?

"Ah, Rudy! How are you?" he smiled. Ash couldn't take it anymore. He turned his head right around.

"I'm fine you're majesty, and yourself?" What was wrong with that fool Ash? Annoyed that I has stolen his thunder eh?

"Ah, I'm very well thank you! However, I must be off. I have a Royal meeting over in Pastoria City tomorrow morning, and I must set off now. If you'll excuse me, I'll be informing Misty of my departure" and with that, he swiftly left the scene. Ash turned back to look at Rudy, with the ridiculous marks all across his face. How had the King managed to do that? Keeping a straight face must have been tough. Ash tried his best not to burst out laughing.

"Get that ridiculous smirk off your face, Ketchum. You look like an utter idiot." Snarled Rudy as he strutted off. He might just go up with the King to meet Misty. He needed another chance to get into Misty's mind. Not that he needed one. Her hatred for him seemed to take up a good part of her mind.

**After** a while of sitting in her room, and sorting her things out, May decided that she would head downstairs to see if anyone was there. As she emerged from her room on the second floor, she could see Rudy marauding up the ground floor stairs. A smile came to her face and she ran to the next rooms.

"Hey! Guys! 'The Girl with the Willy Tatoo' is awake and on the prowl!"


	11. Chapter 11

**A Jewel in Water**

**Part 11**

**This **was it. It was a time where everyone had come together to fight against the arrogant, annoying guy that was Rudy. May went and collected everyone she could find. Paul thought it to be below himself to get involved with this prank. Completely childish. But as you probably could tell, Kenny was over the moon. Soon the whole group was assembled, excluding Ash, who was now on the ground floor, and Misty who was making her way over from the fourth. Rudy walked up the central stairs and when his eyes met the eyes of the group standing there watching him, he grew a tad suspicious.

"What are you all doing there?" he asked them.

"We are just throwing stuff down, seeing how long it takes to reach the ground." Kenny answered quickly.

"How stupid." Rudy snorted and walked ahead. He could hear the stifled laughter coming from them. Then up ahead was Misty walking down the stairs. When he saw her his face lit up. But the constant laughter in the background made him realise that something was wrong. They wouldn't be laughing like that… unless they had done something. And since all the laughter seemed to be diverted towards him, then they must have pranked him. Then it clicked… slightly.

"Misty, my dear!" he said as he ran towards her. If only Ash was there to see this. "It seems these imbecilic people have taken all the mirrors from the room and discarded them somewhere." But instead of looking as happy as the others, Misty seemed to be in a particularly bad mood. She looked over to the big group that were leaning against the banister, and lost it.

"Do you have nothing better to do?" she snapped. Everyone looked shocked at her. Brock made his way over to Misty, but a text stopped him from saying anything to her. All the while Misty carried on nagging everyone. Everyone except Rudy which overjoyed him.

"Brock, Elliot and May. Kindly return his mirrors to his room. Now." She said shortly. The three set off, gloomily back to where the mirrors were. Rudy should have been able to see them, I mean they were right next to his door. What an idiot.

"I wonder what's get her so annoyed." Asked May. Brock looked at his phone and opened the message. It was from Ash.

"I think I know why she was so annoyed." Brock laughed a bit. "What happened to her is probably bound to make anyone mad, especially if it's from someone they had high hopes for."

**Ash **was still sitting in the room where he was having his chat with the King before he was interrupted by Rudy. Pikachu had managed to slip back to Ashs' room and avoided any telling off. Ash put his head on his hand and looked into the hallway. Had Misty opened his box present by now? And where the hell was Jessie, James and Meowth with all his luggage? Ash took out his phone and dialled their number.

"Ugh. What do you want twerp?" Answered Jessie on the other side. Ash smiled. How he loved tormenting these guys. After the many years of harassment from them during his quest to become the Pokémon Master, when he had finally succeeded, the only thing that stopped Jessie, James and Meowth from being sent to jail, along with the rest of Team Rocket, was Ash's proposition:

"_Looks like someone's finally knocked down Team Rocket, eh?" Ash smiled at the three people standing on his Match Grounds._

"_Don't look so smug twerp. We know it was you. We're here to tell you our last words before we get locked up." Snarled James. _

"_Last words, huh?" Ash looked blankly to the distance. However once he had finished thinking, another smile was brought on his face. "What about if I said that these wouldn't be the last days of your freedom?"_

"_What you talking about?" asked Meowth suspiciously._

"_I don't like the look on his face guys…" whispered Jessie._

"_You work for me, or you sit in jail. Your choice," stated Ash._

"_WHAT?" all three of them said in unison._

"_Work for you?" Jessie exclaimed._

"_There's no way we will ever work for a twerp like you!" shouted Meowth._

"…_. Hang on guys," thought James. He motioned for them to huddle together. "Think about it. All we have to do is work for the guy. We will have a job, and won't have to go to jail. It's perfect!" he whispered._

"_but-," Jessie started but was interrupted by Meowth._

"_No Jessie, James is right. We can pull one over on the twerp after he accepts us. He'll help us stay outta jail!"_

"_So we accept?"_

"_We accept." What they didn't know was that Ash had huddled in with them from the start and heard everything._

"_Excellent! You'll start tomorrow." Oops._

**It **was so nice to be able to torment your tormenters.

"Where abouts are you?" Ash asked them. He had purposely not given them any money to get from Sinnoh to Kanto, but he was starting to regret it.

"Good news, it's good news. Don't thunder shock us." James pleaded.

"Aha, that's great, so you're near?" Ash asked.

"Yep, just passed the day care centre, we'll be at the castle in about half an hour."

"Excellent, and when you get here, ask for me. I know you'll probably be angry after all this, so I have a treat for you!"

"Ugh. I don't even want to know what that treat is." Ash could hear Jessie say in the background. And then he hung up.

"Who was that you were talking to?" Ash turned around and saw Misty, looking ever so angry as she walked towards him.

"Ah, some extremely close friends of mine. Known them as long as I've known Pikachu in fact." He had forgotten that Misty had forgotten their past. "So about 12 years."

"Female?"

"One of them."

"I see." She then stopped about a metre away from Ash, and flung the cerulean coloured box at him. "Instead of flirting over the phone with your lovers, shouldn't you have found out what I liked if you were going to give me a present?" she screamed. Oh, she had definitely opened the box.

"I'm sorry, I don't follow." Ash lied.

"You somehow knew what my favourite colour was, so why didn't you know what Pokémon I liked?" she continued screaming.

"Ah, the present?" Ash tried not to laugh. He bent down and picked up the box.

"It's ruined my whole room, and that note you put in it? How dare you!" shouted Misty.

"I just wanted to make an impact on you!" Ash fakely justified his actions.

"Oh you've definitely made an impact you idiot. Just stay away from me." She stormed out of the room.

"You'll regret saying that Misty. But if you insist, I will stay away from you." Ash thought to himself.


	12. Chapter 12

**A Jewel in Water**

**Part 12**

**Ash** held the box in his hand. The note had been stuffed back in, in a hurry, but he could still hear the rattling inside it. So she hadn't discarded the pokéball inside it.

"Come out!" Ash called, and out came a Caterpie, ready to fling a string shot at anyone in sight. However, when it saw Ash it calmed down. It looked extremely terrified. Ash picked it up and sat down in a chair, whilst stroking it for comfort.

"There there." He cooed. "Did you string shot her, like I told you?" The Caterpie nodded and  
Ash smiled and gave it a Pokémon treat. He then took the note out of the box and laughed at the fact that it was completely screwed up. He opened it up and read.

"_Hope you like this!_

_Well, I know you won't, but just enjoy the treat. I mean, it's from the world renowned Pokémon Master! Don't forget to show me the results!"_

**She** had shown him the results, although it may have been more to vent her anger rather than to show him anything.

"Do you want to go back upstairs now?" Ash asked the Caterpie, but it shook its' head. It was obviously too traumatized by what Misty did to it to stay alone right now. Ash placed it on his shoulder. "Well, let's go up anyway. I've got a few things to sort out and a Pikachu that needs a scolding he said. He entered the main hall and headed up the central stairs, but as soon as he was halfway up, he saw Brock, May and Elliot walking down, talking heatedly. When Brock saw Ash, he pounced.

"Can you please expand on this text you sent me?" Brock asked him as he held up the phone. It read:

"_Watch out for Misty. She's not going to be in a good mood."_

"Have you seen her yet?" Ash questioned Brock.

"Yes." Brock admitted. "She was pretty peeved."

"What did you do to her?" pleaded May.

"I'll tell you in a minute, I need to go up and sort these things out." Ash said as he continued upstairs.

"Fine. Keep us in suspense." Sulked May and the trio went over to the secondary lounge to wait for Ash. Brock stopped and realised something, which made him call back to Ash.

"Hey, Ash!" he shouted. Ash turned to see what he wanted.

"What is it?"

"I was thinking that we could add two more acomplices." He said as to not let too much information out of the bag. It took Ash a couple of minutes to understand what Brock was actually saying.

"OH! Of course, yeah, fill them in." He carried on upstairs. The whole while May and Elliot were looking at the other two as if they were speaking in another language, but they also felt a bit put out. But then Brock came to save the day.

"Right guys, I've got something to tell you, and something that I'll need your help with."

**Misty** was especially annoyed. How could Ashton do that? She had had high hopes for him. He was officially going to be called number 15 and she would put Rudy as number 13. At least Rudy was nice to her, even if he just wanted to use her. How appearances could be deceiving, there was no way that she was going to speak to that person again, let alone consider marrying him.

**Kenny sighed.** The prank that they played on Rudy was almost ruined by Misty. He didn't know why she was so angry, but she almost sabotaged the whole operation. Lucky for them she decided not to tell Rudy what was on his face, but she was being such a spoil sport.

"The love of your life almost ruined the whole thing you know." Dawn said as they went around and looked for Rudy.

"I know. Why was she so angry in the first place…. Could she have been jealous of me?" he realised wrongly. This caused Dawn to go into hysterics.

"Jealous? Of you?" she laughed "Shouldn't you be more jealous of her? I mean here she is with three potential husbands. They could steal her away you know!" Kenny looked over at Dawn. This statement didn't really hurt his feelings a lot. He didn't know why, but he wouldn't have been very heartbroken if Misty decided to marry someone else. Why could that be, eh?

"What about you? Your precious Ashy could end up marrying Misty. Then we'd both look like losers." Yes. This topic was definitely irritating him more, than when they were talking about Misty marrying someone, instead of Dawn. Oh dear. But then they heard a commotion at the main door, from the second floor.

"Hey lets go check it out." Kenny yelled as he grabbed Dawns' arm and they ran downstairs together.

**The **maid was in a hurry. Since the King had left on a meeting, she needed to find the Princess and inform her that there was trouble outside. Then, she found her, storming up the stairs.

"Princess! There's trouble!" the maid called.

"Trouble? What now?" Misty moaned. The maid tried to ignore Misty's sudden change in attitude as they both hurried down to the main doors.

**Rudy **was on the lookout for Misty, as although she had stuck up for him in front of all the other idiots, she had run away so fast that he had no idea where she had disappeared to. He looked in the lounges but she wasn't there and just as he was about to go to her room (which would have been a good opportunity, whether she was there or not) he saw her and her maid coming down the stairs at lightning speed. They were heading to maid doors, where there were two guards seeming to be having a lot of trouble with some uninvited visitors. He went closer for another look.

**If **Kenny and Dawn had heard the shouting from the second floor, then a few meters away, there was no reason as to why Brock, May and Elliot wouldn't be able to hear anything. Brock was interrupted as he was explaining the 'Trick Misty' Plan to both of them. The shouting was far more interesting at this point and they all went to go investigate the noise.

**Paul **was sitting in the kitchen, feeling like a glutton that day. It was not a good idea to travel from Sinnoh to Kanto on an empty stomach. He grabbed about ten sandwiches and was about to take them up to his room, when surprise surprise, he heard all the noise coming from the front of the castle. He went over to investigate, or rather to check if he could catch Ash and challenge him to a long awaited Pokémon battle.

**The** eight people drew closer and closer to the source of the noise. Unbeknownst to them, what they would see would be familiar to each and every one of them.


	13. Chapter 13

**A Jewel in Water**

**Part 13**

"**TEAM ROCKET!"** Everyone called simulateously. Sure enough, at the front of the door, were three very familiar people. After the sudden outburst from all the people, they stopped struggling.

"Hey look guys, it's the twerps!" called James.

"Ain't there a lot more than usualt though?" Asked Meowth.

"Please tell me this isn't true…" said Jessie exasperated as she buried her head in her hands.

"Jessie, my eyes hurt! So many twerps in one room!" Cried James.

"What are you doing here?" shouted May.

"Are you here to steal our Pokémon?" yelled Dawn

"Quick guys, we need to get out of here. We may have one twerp behind our backs, but the rest of these guys will be itching for a chance to get us." Said Meowth hurriedly. But it was too late.

"Go, Empoleon!" Kenny through a Pokéball in the air, along with everyone else.

"Piplup!"

"Go Maril!"

"Beautifly!"

"Come on out Sudowoodo!"

"You too Torterra!"

"Oh crap." Said Meowth. "Cue the 'We need a hero' music." But no sooner had he said that, was said hero walking down the stairs, with a Caterpie on his shoulder.

"What's going on here then?" Ash said as he saw the turmoil near the main doors.

"It's our twerp!" called Meowth gleefully. The trio took advantage of the sudden pause to run into the castle and hide behind Ash.

"Since you got us into this mess, you fix it!" said Jessie sternly. Ash sighed.

"Look everyone," Ash announced, "You can't do anything to these guys. They work under me."

"Ash, are you serious?" bellowed Brock, "How could you say that! After the number of times they tried to steal all of our stuff, our Pokémon, and you're defending them?"

"Yeah, Ash, I can't count the number of times they tried to steal Pikachu from you!" cried Dawn.

"Speaking of Pikachu, it seems to have been replaced. Don't tell me this Caterpie was the real powerhouse and you just used Pikachu as bait?" said James as he came to an unlikely conclusion. Ash was getting more and more irritated by each comment that was coming at him.

"Okay. I'm not expecting you to understand this, but can you understand that I know what I am doing? I'm sure that you would feel the same if someone, or everybody, in this case, was interfering with your life." Then he turned around and pushed the guys up the stairs. But Misty couldn't hold back.

"Ashton. You may trust these thieves, but I do not. Kindly remove them from the castle." But Ash wasn't supposed to talk to her remember? He turned to her with a disappointed look. He turned to the rest of the group.

"Don't worry, they will be gone by today." He looked apologetically at them, except for Misty; he didn't even make eye contact with her.

"What a troublesome situation." Sighed May.

"Never thought that Ash, of all people would consider joining up with them." Agreed Brock.

"But as you said, you only travelled with Ash to a certain point. After that who knows what could have happened. They could have turned good." Paul stated.

"Yeah, but can they have changed so much?" asked Elliot. Everyone looked at him.

"I didn't think you would know them!" said Kenny. Elliot had forgotten who he was for a second. He needed a cover up and fast.

"Well, yeah, I met Ash a few times a few years ago and Team Rocket always seemed to be following him around." He tried. Everyone accepted the story.

"Would someone mind informing me who this 'Team Rocket' is?" said Rudy, frustrated. They all looked at him, but Brock decided to be brave and tell him.

"I wouldn't be surprised if you don't remember, but they were there when you had that battle with Ash. They tried to steal his Pokémon, along with anyone else's for that matter."

"Oh is that it? No I can't say I remember." He said snootily. Everyone tried to stop themselves from hitting him. But Misty was out of it. The look Ash had given her. The way he didn't speak to her. Why was it making her so sad? Brock saw Misty and he decided he would help Ash out a bit, even though he didn't have a clue what Ash had done to her.

"Misty, you okay? Ash didn't seem to be giving you a very nice look. Something happened?" Now if he acted like Brock thought he would, Rudy would be cutting in with a comment right about…

"Yes, Misty dear. How positively rude of him to ignore you like that. If you don't want them in the castle, then he should oblige. Just because he is the Pokémon Master doesn't mean he's King of the World!" But tears were welling up in Misty's eyes. Nobody wanted to say anything. But there seemed to be something that Kenny noticed. Something that shocked him, because no one else had noticed anything about it yet. He burst out laughing. Everyone looked towards him, as if he was a bit mental, but when he raised his hand and pointed towards Rudy, everyone understood, and started laughing along with him. The guards and the maid tried not to laugh but they couldn't help it. Even Misty, smiled before running off somewhere in the castle. Rudy was the only one who was not at all amused.

"What in blazes is so funny?" he demanded. Now who was going to be the bearer of bad news? Kenny nudged Elliot. I mean he was the one that initiated it.

"I think you better turn around and look in the mirror." Rudy did so, and his face when he saw what was on his face couldn't have been any more priceless. "Wha- who? WHAT IS THIS?" he shouted.

"I think you can sum that up for yourself." Said May.

"HOW LONG HAS IT BEEN ON?" he continued screaming.

"Calm down, dude. It's only been on since you woke up."

"Since I woke up? That means the KING?" he was about to have a mental breakdown.

"The King saw it? Ahahaha, that's excellent." Cried Dawn.

"I can guess who did this. He said as he looked up the stairs." Again a wrong guess. It was not Ash as he was thinking, but that wasn't going to stop him from tormenting Ash for this. Being humiliated in front of the King, whilst he was with Ash? There was no way Ash was going to come out of this torture in one piece.


	14. Chapter 14

**A Jewel in Water**

**Part 14**

**Rudy** was on a rampage to murder anyone that got in his way, and he was desperately scrubbing his face with his hand to get the ink off. Never before had he been so humiliated. Everyone had seen him like this. Even Misty and the King! There was no way he was going to let Ash live peacefully after this. Everyone looked at him. The more they stared, the more scared they got. They decided that it would be best to leave him alone and they all slowly dispersed, for their own safety.

**Brock** then recruited May and Elliot back into the troops. He knew that Paul couldn't care less about the 'Trick Misty' Plan and he was definitely not going to tell Rudy or Misty. He was contemplating whether to tell Kenny and Dawn, but, they may not have agreed since they seemed to 'love' Ash and Misty so much. Once the three were securely back in the Secondary Lounge, and there was no one else in sight, Brock decided to let May and Elliot in on the secret.

"I can't believe him." Said May.

"I can't believe that the Kind managed to see him. I can only imagine how high and mighty he was feeling." Snickered Elliot.

"You better not go near him. If he finds out that it was you and not Ash, then you are worse than dead." The blood drained from his face. But Brock couldn't wait any longer.

"Right, you two. The reason I called you here." He interrupted.

"Oh yeah, I forgot." Remembered Elliot

"Go on then! Why all the suspense?" May urged.

"Well…"

**Ash** and Team Rocket were making their way up the stairs.

"You guys got quite the reception then, didn't you?" Ash joked.

"Don't even say anything you twerp." Warned Jessie

"You knew this would happen from the start, didn't you?" asked James suspiciously.

"Of course I didn't! To be honest I didn't think about anything."

"Shame on you. Aren't you supposed to be quick and always thinking ahead, Pokémon Master?" said Meowth. They reached his room and put down all Ash's luggage.

"Now that's everything," clarified James. The three of them looked at Ash expectantly. He laughed.

"The money is in your accounts. And as a bonus for today, here are some train tickets for the Magnet Train. Valid all week." He handed them the tickets.

"He's being too nice, guys…" said Meowth to the other two.

"Hey, isn't that a bit rude? It's just some compensation for what just happened!" Ash tried to justify himself.

"So you did know that this would happen?" asked Jessie.

"Just take them before I change my mind and send you back by foot!" Ash told them. He lead them all back to main door. Brock, May and Elliot had finished their conversation and were about to go up to see Ash, but they stopped once they saw him seeing Team Rocket off.

"Are you sure that you don't want to stay here a bit longer?" Ash teased. The tree amigos looked at him with disdainful eyes.

"Are you being serious?" Jessie asked.

"Fine, fine, just go!" said Ash and with that they left muttering curses for Ash, probably.

"So you really are best buds with Team Rocket." Said Brock as he approached Ash with the other two.

"Not friends with Team Rocket. Just with those three. Actually we aren't even friends." Ash admitted.

"So they're like servant basically?" asked May.

"Yeah, I've got some dirt on them,"

"Mind giving me some dirt? I've got so many things I want revenge on them for." wondered May, but Ash grew serious.

"No. I'm not doing this for revenge," Ash said. He didn't want to say anything more than he had to.

Elliot loved this turn of events. For some reason, Ash was upset with May and this made him feel all warm inside. May's idol was angry with him. This was a chance for him to get in there!

"Hey, Brock said that you were going to tell us something." Elliot broke the silence. Ash looked at Elliot, as if for the first time, and the smile that Ash had given Elliot up near Rudy's room came across his face again. Elliot should have kept quiet. Now Ash would definitely be asking him some more questions about his situation.

"Sure, let's go up to my room."

"**You** okay?" Asked Paul as he sat next to Misty in the PokéGarden.

"Yeah, fine… I'm just…"

"Right, that makes complete sense." Paul mocked.

"Oh shush Paul." Misty said.

"I'm leaving tonight by the way." This caught Misty off guard.

"What? Why so soon?" she cried.

"Well, to tell you the truth, I came here to challenge Ash." Misty felt her blood boil but she stayed silent. "It looks like he isn't quite settled down to have a proper battle, and I would prefer to do it at the proper place anyway." He explained.

"So tonight?"

"Yeah. My brother called me and said that I should come home quickly as well. He's got some problem or something stupid."

"Well, you staying for dinner at least?"

"I'm not making the same mistake twice. No way am I going to miss dinner." Misty's eyes started welling up. "So, you never did tell me what was wrong with you?" She burst into tears.

**Kenny** and Dawn were also prowling around the PokéGardens, and they happened to see Misty and Paul.

"Look, there's your love." Teased Dawn. Kenny looked over at the two. However it was just at that moment when Misty and Paul started hugging. Both Kenny and Dawn looked at each other.

"You don't think…" Dawn started.

"…there's something going on with them?" Kenny finished. "I mean, I did see him, the first time I met Misty, and every time I come over here to the castle, he is always here…"

"So they're both in a relationship after all?"

"No! You can't say that!" Kenny shouted. Dawn put her hand over his mouth and pulling him behind a bush. Kenny felt his heart beat quicken.

"Don't be an idiot, okay Kenny! Be quiet or they'll see us!" Dawn scolded.

"Why is that such a bad thing?" Asked Kenny, as he tried to calm himself down.

"Look, you are so immature. Misty is getting married, right?"

"Right."

"But if they are in a relationship, then obviously this is not ideal for those two. I mean aren't they cousins or something? So obviously in a modern age, they can't marry. It would be disgusting. But they love each other so much that it doesn't matter!"

"WHAT?"

"And this is really hurting them both, because not only is Misty older than him, she has to get married to one of these other guys!"

"Misty's older than me too!"

"Oh yeah… But I wasn't talking about you anyway, coz you aren't going to be able to marry her."

"So Misty is in love with Paul and she doesn't want to get married… so this all has to be a secret…"

"Basically, yes." Then all of a sudden a Charizard flew out of the sky and off jumped a girl with dark purple hair.

"Such childish imaginations you both have."


	15. Chapter 15

**A Jewel in Water**

**Part 15**

"**W-who** are you?" asked Kenny.

"What a childish question." Said the girl. "Are you sure he is here?" she pointed this question towards the Charizard she had been riding. The Charizard nodded. She then turned back to the other two.

"So how do you get into this place?" she asked.

"Through there," said Dawn as she pointed to a door into the castle. And with that, the girl was off.

"Who is she and what does she want?" asked Kenny to no one in particular.

"I don't know but let's go and find out!" And they both ran after the girl.

**Ash** had taken the trio to his room and when they were all inside, and there was no chance of anyone eavesdropping, Ash shut the door and sat them down around the table in his room. He then went over to a draw and pulled out a folder. It was the one that Brock had given him.

"Hey! Treat it with a bit more delicacy! I spent a long time on that." Brock protested.

"Okay, sorry, sorry," apologised Ash. May took the folder and read the cover.

"The 'Trick Misty' Plan?" she read.

"Huh? What?" Elliot said as he grabbed the folder out of May's hand and flicked it open.

"That's what it says." Said May

"This is what I wanted to talk to you about," explained Brock. "You see, if you agree, you will be helping Ash and Misty get together." Elliots' heart was filled with joy. If Ash went with Misty, then he could have May! But either way, he still needed to tell Misty that he didn't want to marry her. Why was there never a good chance?

"Helping Ash get Misty? I'm not saying that I won't help, but why do we need to do this? Can't you just woo her like the other two?" she tried not to look at Elliot. What was he going to say about this? He seemed really interested in Misty, so there was little chance that he would agree to this.

"It's going to be much more complicated than that," said Ash regretfully. "A long time ago, I did something that she can't forgive me for. Although it wasn't my fault, she still is set on making me look evil. And to top it all off, I think that she's wiped out all her memories of me. She didn't even remember me with Pikachu next to me. It's hopeless." Ash hung his head.

"What did you do exactly?" asked Brock. Ash paused. He was contemplating whether or not to tell them anything.

"Sorry. I'll tell you when the time comes. It's not something that I can talk about freely." The others reluctantly understood and didn't question him anymore about it.

"Ummm." Said Elliot suddenly.

"What's wrong?" asked Ash.

"It says in here you need a gay lover?" he said slowly. May looked at Ash.

"What?" she grabbed the folder out of Elliots' hands and read the page quickly. Her mouth hung open as she turned to look at Ash. "You aren't really going to do this, are you?"

"Why not? I think it's pretty good." Promoted Brock.

"Of course you would say that! You wrote the damned thing!" said Ash "But, I guess it's pretty good. I really wouldn't want to get another woman involved." He admitted.

"Exactly." Agreed Brock.

"So about this gay lover…" Elliot brought up again.

"Why are you volunteering?" winked Ash. Elliot turned a shade of deep red.

"N-no! Of course not!" he stuttered. The other two laughed but then Brock stopped and asked:

"Jokes aside, who is going to be your gay lover? We need to know as soon as possible."

"…I have no idea."

"It could be anyone!" said May. "Don't you have anyone you can blackmail into it?"

"I am not going to ask James." Ash stated simply.

"But you were thinking about it weren't you?" joked Brock.

"No!" shouted Ash. Elliot really didn't want to say anything… anything that drew attention to himself, especially in front of Ash. He already knew his secret.

"…someone I can blackmail…" Ash said "But isn't that a bit mean?"

"Yeah, but that's the only way!" urged May. Elliot wished May would shut up. This was not looking good for him in anyway. If he wanted anyone he could blackmail, then the guy was in this room.

"What about someone who owes you a big favour?" Elliot tried. Ash gave him a knowing smile, but then it suddenly faded and after a few seconds it came back again.

"I've got it!" he shouted.

"Who is it?" asked Brock

"You won't know them," Ash informed then as he got his phone out and dialled a number.

"Well, if you just tell us-," May started but was interrupted when someone answered Ashs' call.

"Hey, it's me. You know that favour you owe me? Mind if you pay up now? No, no, it needs to be now, and don't lie to me and say that you are too busy, because you told me last week that you were going to be on holiday for the next four weeks. Come to the Cerulean Castle. Don't worry, I'll reimburse you! Just get here. Asap." And with that he hung up.

"I liked how you didn't say what the favour was." Brock snickered.

"Well, do you think if I had told him, he wouldn't have run to the other side of the world? Anyway, I think that this is a pretty big payment. Not a much as I deserve, but it'll be ok."

"Mind telling us who this mystery lover is?" May interjected again.

"Actually I think I'll keep it a surprise."

"Fine, I think we should leave now. It might look a bit suspicious." Said Elliot, and the other two agreed and made to leave the room. He wanted to get out of there.

"Actually Elliot, can I speak to you in private?" Ash asked him. Elliot's heat stopped. Oh dear. He did not manage to escape this time. Brock and May looked at each other confusedly. But they got the message and left the room. Elliot made sure they were far away when he shut the door and turned back. His face was grave.

"So Elliot…"


	16. Chapter 16

**A Jewel in Water**

**Part 16**

"**So, **Elliot." Ash smiled.

"Ash…" pleaded Elliot, "Please don't tell anyone!" Ashs' face turned serious.

"Come on. Why would I tell anyone? As you know, I have secrets that I don't want spilled as well!" Ash cried, "But I just want to know why you did it." Elliot looked sceptically at Ash. Ash sighed. "And no, I will not use this to make you my gay lover. Didn't you hear, I already called someone else for that." He clarified. Elliot still didn't look convinced but he softened up a bit.

"…fine. I'll tell you." Elliot started, but surprise surprise, something interrupted.

**Misty **was blubbering and Paul was looking at her disdainfully.

"Come on Misty! Stop crying! I thought that consoling you would do it, but you aren't co-operating at all!" he was exasperated. Then he tried another tactic. "This is my last day you know. I might not be back for a while after this."

She looked up at him and stopped crying. However there was still a large frown on her face.

"Okay, I'm sorry, I'll stop. I'm just being a bit emotional here."

"Don't tell me it's that time of the month!" said another approaching voice.

"Can you get much more rude?" asked Misty as Rudy came into view. Rudy smiled at her and attempted to sit next to her. He succeeded, but she moved closer to where Paul was now standing. He took no notice.

"Ah, you didn't get it all off." Paul stated. Rudy's smile was wiped off of his face and he unintentionally touched his face.

"Can you blame me? That Ash used some tattoo ink or something!" Rudy defended himself.

"You do know how tattoos are made, don't you?" Paul asked. Rudy decided to ignore this and turned his attention towards Misty. There were some tears on her face. He pulled out a handkerchief and wiped her tears away. Misty turned to look at Paul with a desperate look on her face. But Paul mistook this and sighed.

"Okay, fine. I'll leave to go pack then, and leave you two alone. Geez, get a room." And he stalked off. Misty was close to dying at this point. The last thing she needed right now was to be consoled by her stalker.

"Rudy, sorry, but I'd rather be alone" she tried to shrug him off gently. He didn't take the hint.

"But how can I leave you when you are in this state because of this fiend!" he cried shocked. He took her hands and looked into her eyes.

"HELP ME." Thought Misty. Then came the maid, with Misty's release forms. Or release phrase.

"Princess. We have a problem." Misty got up like a shot. Whatever the problem was, it had to be better than being comforted by Rudy. But he wasn't going to let her go easily. This was the first time that he had gotten close to Misty for a long period of time. Every single time there were interruptions. He was keep to her very closely until they were alone again.

**Back** with Ash, there was a sudden roar which helped Elliot escape the interrogation and he ran to the door to see what the source of the noise was. There was a great orange beast being shooed back outside and a girl shaking her head as the beast growled.

"Such a childish rule. Why can't unpermitted Pokémon allowed into the castle." Elliot turned around but Ash had been paying no attention and had walked into the Pokémon Paradise in the next room. He knew that Elliot was not going to tell him anything truthfully right now. The way Elliot ran out of the room so fast when there was a noise that sounded like that someone was dragging furniture across the floor. That didn't seem to be anything to get too excited about. They were just rearranging the castle. It was nothing to run out in excitement for.

"Come on guys, you need to eat now, almost dinner time." He called. As if they needed any cajoling. As soon as Ash had given each Pokémon their respective food he was about to leave to go join the rest of the guys when he felt a tug on his leg. It was Caterpie. Maybe what Misty did to it traumatised it more than he thought. He smiled and crouched down to its level.

"Okay, eat. I'll wait." The Caterpie became very excited and scoffed all its food down within seconds. Then it appeared back next Ash. "Slow down there!... Wait a second… with a bit more training… that's it! Come on!" he grabbed it and put it on his shoulder. He then got up quickly and ran straight out of his room, but when he reached the top of the stairs he found something that surprised him. In a good way.

"**Who** are you?" asked Brock, who had been called out by his curiosity again.

"It's no use Brock. We already tried that. She'll just go, 'It's so childish' and not tell us." Kenny sighed.

"Well, why would I tell you? Anyway I'm here to see someone." Misty came over and joined the fray, with Rudy close behind.

"Excuse me, may I ask why you decided to come and disrupt the peace of my castle?" Misty asked sternly. The young girl looked at her and blinked. All eyes were on the girl.

"I'm sorry, it was childish of me wasn't it?" she admitted and smiled sheepishly.

"I wouldn't quite say that, but could you tell me why you're here?" Misty pressed. Then she heard a roar outside of the castle. "What on earth have you brought here?" she cried.

"Well that's it. I need to return something, but when I went over to his place, they said he was away."

"Who said?" asked Brock. She turned to face Brock and scowled. "I'm talking to someone here."

"I can't deal with these young annoying types." He said to May and Elliot who were both standing next to him the entire time. The both tried not to smile, but they were still focused on what was happening at the moment.

"Who did you need? Why would you come over here?" Misty was getting a bit stressed. Rudy was looking expectantly at her, as if to hurry this thing up.

"Ah, yes, sorry. I wanted to speak to Ash." She finally informed.

"Why is everyone coming here for him?"


	17. Chapter 17

**A Jewel in Water**

**Part 17**

**A/N:** Not too interesting, but made quite a few name errors which could have ruined one of my 'pair' plots! Keep reading to find out what it is ;)

**The **girl with the violet hair blinked a few times. "What do you mean, 'why is everyone coming for him'?" she asked slowly.

"Let's just say you aren't the first uninvited guest in this castle, due to him," Misty lazily clarified.

"Isn't the better question why are _you _here for Ash?" Dawn piped up. But this sudden 'attack' on the girl seemed to be the breaking point.

"Look! All I did was come here to return something! I've been running around for over a week trying to make sure that Ash gets his stuff back, and to thank him personally for letting me use it! But I finally find him, I get shouted at to no end!" This situation also seemed to have a negative effect on Brock too.

"No, you look! You come in here, in a less than peaceful manner, and you expect us to be completely cool about it! Think about your actions; you may call us childish, but what you are doing now surpasses that and takes it to a new level!" he bellowed at her ad the rest of the crew stood and watched him. Tears built up in the girls eyes, and she opened her mouth to say something but was interrupted by the trouble maker himself.

"Brock! I thought you were supposed to be a ladies man! What are you doing making them cry?" Ash said in a half jokey, half serious tone. But before Brock could reply Ash continued. "Iris," he said solely, the apologetic tone seeping out. Misty's anger had been building and building. Why? Why had Ash suddenly come here and messed up her life? He seemed to like her, then hate her, and now suddenly he was acting like he owned the place and let uninvited guests enter. Her anger was on the brink. There was only a fine line that she needed to cross before she kicked Ash out of the castle. But Ash had noticed this. He glanced at Misty whilst he was walking down the main stairs and her eyes were red. He initially thought that there was no need to make an impression on Misty, as their relationship was an impressionable one, but then she didn't even remember him! She had erased him from her mind! Other than Brock's plan to 'get' her, he had quickly made a plan to make sure the she would remember him, or even trigger some past memories, but all it did was make her mad and upset. This wasn't what he wanted to do to her. Maybe he needed to take a break from here.

"**Right **guys, there's nothing to see here, you can leave," Ash addressed them all. He then turned to Misty. "Princess, would it be possible to talk to you briefly after this," he said in a low tone, expecting her to instantly deny him of the chance. Misty looked severely at him, her lips but a thin line on her pale-with-anger face, however she nodded at him and took leave.

"I'll be waiting in the lounging hall," she said as she walked away, and Rudy followed her close behind.

"You can leave too you know," Ash repeated to them.

"Actually, I'd rather stay," replied Kenny. There was no way that he was going to miss something as interesting as this.

"Iris!" cried Dawn suddenly.

"I guess the penny has finally dropped," sighed Ash "But the other penny-," he stopped talking and looked over at Brock. Brock looked at Ash warningly, and Ash knew that this meant that he could no longer continue the conversation in this direction. He turned his attention back to Iris, but she was in a choke hold thanks to Dawn.

"Iris! I missed you! How have you been! You've changed so much! You look like a little lady now!" Iris looked over at Ash, as to try and complete the task that she had set out to do, whilst being sidetracked by Dawn.

"Don't worry, I know what you came for. I'll check on him outside," and with that Ash left through the main doors with Brock on his tail.

"They are like the Misty and Rudy Duo," Paul sighed as he watched them go. Kenny eyed him suspiciously. Now as well as Misty he was after Ash or Brock? Paul really had to sort out his relationships.

"**Don't** want to be in there?" Ash asked Brock whilst making their way out.

"You know what happened." Brock stated simply, subsequently changing the topic afterwards, "Unlike me when it comes to you and Misty."

"Hey you know what happened this time! I made her angry, and all these visitors for me aren't helping the cause!" Ash justified.

"Not that! I'm talking about why Misty has suddenly made you vanish from her planet and why when you found out, which must have been today, you didn't seem to be either hurt or angry! You just treated it like a game!" Brock cried. Ash stopped walking and turned to Brock with a serious look on his face. This surprised Brock.

"When you left to further your breeding career a lot happened Brock." But before Brock could question Ash, a huge roar erupted from the Charizard that was waiting in a nearby area, whilst being watched by a few security guards.

"Charizard!" Ash cried as he rushed over to hug the Charizard, leaving Brock slightly frustrated and exasperated.

"Chicks, eh?" he muttered, "Give me a good Pokémon any day."

"**So** basically, you borrowed Ash's Charizard to train your Haxorus and you just wanted to return it?" Dawn clarified.

"Well it would be childish of me to just let it fly off without me giving Ash my thanks! Who knows, it may have resulted in his 'Master' title being lost!"

"I think the word you are looking for is 'rude'," Paul corrected.

"Well, can't change a habit of a lifetime, can you Paul?" Dawn said to him.

"Good one DeeDee!" Kenny cheered whilst raising his hand up for a high five, which Dawn followed through.

"Hmph. Immature." Paul muttered. Meanwhile, on the sidelines Elliot and May were watching.

"Aww, young love." May giggled.

"Young love, is it?" Elliot muttered absent-mindedly, when May realised she was standing next to him and started blushing as a result. What an awkward conversation she was going to have if she didn't change the topic! But Elliot really had other things on his mind. If May was standing this close to him, no matter how much he had changed if Ash had already discovered his identity, then he needed a really good disguise. But the problem was that how was he going to get a disguise whilst still looking like 'Elliot'?

The silence between May and Elliot was elongating, and before she could think of anything to say he spoke up:

"Sorry May, I need to leave for a bit. But I'll be back soon! See you later, okay?" Elliot said as he left her side. May couldn't help but get her hopes up. 'See _you_ later'? Was that a promise?


	18. Chapter 18

**A Jewel in Water**

**Part 18**

* * *

**Misty **made her way over to the Lounging Hall. Her thoughts were so occupied by Ash and why he could have to say to her, that she was at the door of the hall by the time she realised that Rudy was on her tail. How was she going to get rid of him?

"Um, Rudy?" she said to him slowly.

"Yes Princess?" He replied, and his eyes lit up. This was the first time the Misty had used a nice tone to talk to him. Could this be the sign that he was waiting for?

"I'm sorry, but this is a private meeting. Do you mind waiting somewhere else?" she tried. But he was not having it.

"Princess, I'd rather not leave you alone with that menace," he looked at her with serious eyes. He was not going to leave her alone, especially if Ash was supposed to be coming. She needed help, and she could only think of one guy who would be able to help her, albeit reluctantly; Paul.

"Okay then, but would you mind stepping outside for a moment whilst I make a call?" she asked him, but in a slightly more pressing manner. He took the hint and moodily did so. Misty whipped out her phone and dialled Pauls' number in in an instant. Looking up his name would be too slow in her eyes. Who knows when Ash would appear. The phone started ringing and after a few seconds, someone on the other side picked up. But it wasn't Paul.

**Brock** watched Ash and his less than gentle reunion with Charizard; Ash had been burnt to a crisp after it seemed like Ash had been about to tackle Charizard. He then noticed something brush past him and head towards Ash. It was a Caterpie. He bent down and picked it up, which shocked it a bit, but it decided that Brock was not as big of a threat than Misty was, and it decided not to attack him.

"Ash, is this yours?" Brock called over, once Ash had snapped out of his knock out. Ash looked over and a look of realisation swept over him.

"Caterpie! Oh no, I'm sorry! We were supposed to train weren't we?" he cried as he rushed over to Brock and took the Caterpie out of his hands.

"Training? Here? I thought this was meant to be a break for you?" Brock questioned Ash.

"Well Brock, there's never a break for the Pokemon Master, you see. Even now I;ve probably got battle requests piling up. I'll have to complete them you know at one point. I'll probably have to head back soon," he explained.

"How soon is soon?" Brock asked.

"Tomorrow would be the earliest. Maybe I'll be able to put it off till the day after." Brocks' jaw dropped.

"So basically, you don't even have any time to woo Misty and you're gonna leave her to the likes of Rudy and Elliot?" she exclaimed. Ash had a smirk on his face as he thought.

"You know I don't think that Elliot is going to be a problem when it comes to his love and Misty," he said to no one in particular.

"But you know that Rudy has absolutely adored Misty from day one! You told me yourself, after you first met him and had that battle with him!"

"Yeah. You know, he isn't actually that bad. Its just that love made him change into one nasty piece of work."

"Love makes us all change alright!" sighed Brock.

"Anyway, I think that I need to go and see Misty now. Best not keep her too long," Ash said as he looked down at his watch. "Would you mind keeping Caterpie with you? I think that it would be better for its' mental health if we didn't make it see Misty again."

"Sure. I'm not going to be going in there for a while," Brock said, moodily. Ash chuckled.

"You know-," he started, but Brock butt in.

"Yes I know. That's why you don't have to tell me anything else," he said, meaning that Ash should now be quiet.

"Ah, okay okay. I'm sorry! I'll be back in a bit," he called as he ran back into the castle.

**Elliot **got into the Royal Garages and located his car amongst the rest of them. He had to do a bit of shopping if he wanted the perfect disguise. First thing he had to do was dye his hair, from green to brown. Then he needed to perfect his costume. Although clothing was all at home, he still needed to get some items. Hopefully his 'transformation' would be good. There was a fine line between transforming himself and then turning into someone else completely. And what was the story going to be, behind his sudden metamorphosis? There were too many things to plan, it was confusing. Maybe he could say that he just got trapped by one of those makeover guys?

"**Hello?" **answered Dawn as she picked up the ringing phone.

"Um, this is Misty, I take it that you are not Paul," replied Misty on the other end.

"Oh hi Misty! So this is Paul's phone? No, sorry, it's Dawn. Paul was here a minute ago, but then he suddenly left the room, as if something was possessing him," Dawn informed Misty. Kenny looked over at Dawn. Now what would Misty want with Paul? And why had Paul left the room so suddenly and not even realise that he had left his phone here? He was sure that he was out to follow either the Misty and Rudy duo, or the Ash, Caterpie and Brock trio. Paul was one mysterious wonder. Dawn then put down the phone, and Kenny, Iris and May all looked questioningly at her.

"Don't ask me! As soon as I said that Paul wasn't here, she didn't tell me what she wanted at all." The rest of them looked slightly disappointed as there was no gossip to spread. Then Dawn piped up.

"Hey Dawn! Still keeping up with your contest battling?" May asked her.

"Hey, how did you know that Dawn battles in contests?" asked Kenny protectively. May sighed.

"I thought you were joking when you first met me, but it turns out that you've really forgotten who I am! We met at Snowpoint City way back!" Then Dawns' face turned from confused to sour.

"So you were the person," she said.

"Huh, what do you mean?" asked Kenny even more confusedly. Iris was just standing there, blankly. Nothing was making sense anymore.

"It's her Kenny! The one I told you about! The one that kept clinging to Ash all the time she was there! She was one of my biggest love rivals!" Dawn yelled, not particularly at Kenny though.

"Me? Clinging to Ash? What are you talking about?" May asked her, her tone slightly offended.

"It's good that I remember now! I've been meaning to contact you for a long time! Have a battle with me May!"


	19. Chapter 19

**A Jewel in Water**

**Part 19**

* * *

**Misty** quickly hung up the phone. This was just brilliant. She needed Paul to try and get rid of Rudy before Ash came, but Paul was missing and had decided to go missing without a phone! How was she going to get rid of him? He was probably listening in to her conversation right now and since the silence was being prolonged, then there would be an excuse to come in! Could she try and escape through the window? Well there it was worth a try! She ran over to the window but before she could heave one leg over there was a knock on the door. There was no point in stopping now; Rudy was due in any minute. But by the time she got her leg over the door was wide open and the King was staring at Misty wide eyed.

"Are you alright my dear?" he asked, completely bemused.

"Yes, father. But I think it's best if you don't ask." Misty looked behind the King to see if there was any sight of Rudy, but he had vanished. The King picked up on this and answered her unspoken question.

"Ah, I sent him away; I wanted to have a word with you." Well when the King said it, there were no arguments, were there? "Now, as I told you, I have a meeting in Pastoria city this week, and I'll be setting off in a few hours. Now normally I wouldn't insist on meeting you alone but the circumstances are slightly different this time. Now, there seems to be an influx of guests so I am slightly more calm, but will you be alright on your own whilst they are here?" the King asked with concern. Misty had seldom seen her father act this way. Maybe it was because it was the last chance before she was let loose to find her partner.

"I'll be fine Father. This isn't the first time that I've done this, although it may be the last," she tried to joke. Her father's face relaxed a little.

"That's fine then," the King finally stated. "I'll be taking my leave." He turned around to walk out of the room, and Misty turned around to have a seat in a chair that was tucked under a table. But even her pondering thoughts didn't block out the words that would set her heart off at record pace:

"Ah, Ashton, yes the princess is right through there. I hope to see you on my return."

**Paul **was speeding off, probably the fastest he's ever moved anywhere in his life. It was a really bad idea to take the random leftovers from the kitchen, without knowing how long they'd been there. What was he supposed to do now? He couldn't get home if he was like this. Food poisoning… from sandwiches! He reached the bathroom just in time to eject everything he had eaten in the last day out of his system.

**Kenny **peered into the bathroom. He couldn't bare to hear May and Dawn talk about their love for Ash so he decided to leave and follow Paul to the bathroom. There he saw Paul retching out into the toilets. Could this be because of an upset stomach? Or could it be psychological? Kenny thought he was pretty good reading all these signs. Now if he jumped to conclusions, he would be able to assume that Paul was not taking all this marriage stuff very well, and this was not helping him mentally and this is what was leading him to being more vulnerable than usual. Kenny kindly decided to let Paul vomit in peace as he went back to Dawn and Iris.

**Meanwhile** Elliot had just finished getting his hair dyed. He looked in the mirror and studied himself. Brown could be his colour. Now he just needed to pop out and buy some things. Glasses…coloured contacts… anything that could change him without really changing him. And his story? Well telling everyone that he was trying to impress Misty would be weak but that was all he had on such short notice. And anyway, trying to impress Misty was the last thing on his mind. Why else would he put in a gold tooth and show it off like it's the crown jewels? But he would probably need to tell Ash everything at some point. Ash had seen through him straight away. And judging from the 'Trick Misty' plan, he wasn't as interested in May as Elliot thought he used to be. Now although he was as shielded as he could ever be from Mays prying eyes, first thing was first. He needed to break off his engagement.

**Ash **approached Misty slowly and saw her about to get up from her seat as she saw him.

"Oh, no need to get up, this will be quick," he told her. She sat back down. "Now princess, I'm here for two things. First thing is to apologize deeply for the way I have acted this afternoon. You were gracious enough to invite me to be one of the candidates for your husband, and I have greatly offended you today," he said to her. She wasn't expecting this. How was she supposed to stay mad at him, when someone of such high standing literally bowed in apology? She may have been a princess, but that was not through effort. Pokémon master on the other hand? Well you weren't born into that.

"Well, whilst I am not disagreeing with what you are saying, but I think that it you may be acting upon your actions slightly too seriously. From what I've seen so far, this doesn't seem to be anything like you." A grin swept across Ash's face.

"So I can take it that I'm not disqualified as one of the remaining three candidates?" he asked just to make sure. Misty blushed, but tried to hid it by turning her face away from Ash.

"Well, if you should so wish to, you may be allowed to stay." She finally uttered. Ash laughed in happiness.

"Thank you princess!" he ran over to her, but had to stop himself from doing anything too physical, so just grabbed her hand to kiss it. The blush on Misty's face was undeniable now.

"You said that there were two things you had to say?" she said whilst pulling her hand way from Ash embarrassedly. Ash quickly recalled the other purpose of the meeting and reluctantly told her the news.

"I'm afraid I have to leave tomorrow."

**Out** in the garden, Dawn and May were getting ready for a battle.

"You better watch out May, because I'm no longer the little girl you once knew." Dawn shouted at her. Kenny had just returned to this turn of events and walked over to Iris, who looked scared and excited at the same time.

"What's going on?" he asked her as he joined her on the floor. "It's starting to get dark out, what are these two doing?"

"I think it's a love fight over Ash." Kenny involuntarily ripped out some grass from the ground. Ash wasn't going to be his favourite person today.

"Well then I'm expecting a good battle Dawn! Regardless of the motive," she sighed at the end. How much longer were people going to think that she was all over Ash? That may have been true at one point, but once she met Drew, Ash was out of the picture.

"Go Piplup!" Dawn shouted as she threw her pokéball in the air.

"Still not evolved it I see," commented May but before Dawn could retort she sent out her Beautify before adding: "Good luck Dawn; may the better trainer win!"

**Over** in Unova a man with light green hair was boarding a plane and muttering under his breath.

"I knew it was a bad idea to owe him a favour. Now I have to fly across the globe to satisfy him. Let's hope the experience is worth it." The man sighed sorrowfully and boarded the plane. The experience would be worth it alright. Just maybe not for him.


	20. Chapter 20

**A Jewel in Water**

**Part 20**

* * *

**"What?"** Misty exclaimed.

"I'm sorry Princess, but this is the busy season for me. People would have just battled in the recent leagues and they would be itching to have a go at battling me, especially if they were in the top 4," Ash explained. Misty frowned inwardly. Would this be the case until she chose someone? And even if she chose him, would this always happen?

"I understand. What time will you be leaving?"

"Tomorrow night, so I can get there early in the morning." Misty nodded and with that Ash thanked her and walked out of the room, back to Caterpie, Charizard and Brock.

**As** Ash walked over to them he could see that the sky was getting darker. It must be nearing dinnertime for his other Pokémon, so he had better get a move on. Training Caterpie would have to wait a while longer.

"Right Caterpie, you gotta man up okay, otherwise these women will walk all over you. Trust me, I used to be like you, scared and wimpy but all over them at the same time, and that didn't work out for me. Once you earn yourself a name, then they will be the ones all over you. I know from experience, so don't doubt me," Brock lectured. Ash smirked.

"Brock are you drunk or something? What's with the endless rambling?"

"Just giving Caterpie a man to man talk. He can't have a phobia of women if he wants to succeed in life."

"I don't think it's a phobia of women, it's just Misty that it's scared of. And how do you know it's a boy anyway? I mean even now I can't distinguish most of my Pokémon's gender." Brock looked disdainfully at Ash.

"What kind of Breeder wouldn't even know how to determine a Pokémon's gender?"

"Okay, okay I get you. Sorry." Ash then moved his attention towards Charizard. "So bud," he said as he patted it on the shoulder, "You staying for dinner?" Charizard nodded and then Ash looked at Brock.

"Mind keeping an eye on them while I go get the food and stuff?" he asked, "I don't think Charizard will fit inside."

"Yeah sure thing," Brock sighed, "Why have I become your assistant all of a sudden."

"As if it hasn't been what you've dreamed of the moment I became the Pokémon Master," Ash called as he headed inside.

**Kenny** looked at the sky and then his watch and then felt his stomach grumble. How long was this going to go on for?

"Beautify, stun spoor and then silver wind!" May called out

"Piplup, use bide and take the attack!" Dawn ordered, but May looked worried.

"Are you sure Dawn? Piplup looks pretty work out and even with bide, this could be the end." Dawn smiled.

"Well I'm sure that Piplup agrees when I say that I would rather die fighting than give up." May smiled at Dawn, but it was too dark to make up. Dawn sure had potential, but she had to finish this up. As the stun spore/ silver wind combo collided into Piplup, it received all the damage but before it could unleash its bide it had fainted. Dawn rushed over to Piplup and picked it up.

"Piplup you did great, have a good rest."

May walked over and tossed a berry at Dawn. "Just in case its paralyzed." Dawn fed it the berry.

"You know May, I'd hate to admit this, but you're too good for me at the moment. But I'll ask you to rebattle me one day."

"You sound like you're about to leave for a journey." May told her.

"Now? No way, I just came back from one, but later of course."

"But saying I'm too good for you is an overstatement. I mean even I haven't beaten my biggest rival to this day. Not that I'll ever get a chance after his disappearance." She muttered the last part, but Dawn didn't seem to have heard either way as she was watching a 'new guy' walking into the premises.

**Elliot** walked into the Royal garden, wearing a pair of sunglasses, at a rather ill time to be honest. He wanted to show that he was a totally different guy, and changing his style of entrance was going to be the key way to do this. But it turned out to be a bit too dark for him under those glasses and he tripped over a rock that was near his feet.

"Geez, what a klutz," said Kenny as he rushed over to pick him up. Elliot rubbed his forehead which had taken the brunt of the fall and looked up to see Kenny, Dawn, May and the new girl looking at them. They all had looks of shock on their faces. He can't have been that masterful at changing himself that they would be so shocked. And why weren't they all laughing at him? What he did was pretty stupid, if he did say so himself.

"You- you're," Dawn started as she reached towards her forehead and then pointed at him. Elliot copied her but he felt something moist on his forehead. He took his sunglasses off to see what it was he was touching, but in the dim light he couldn't tell. He put his glasses back on and wiped whatever it was on his forehead onto his sleeve. He then did an ill placed wink, which of course no one was able to see, and got up to walk smoothly into the castle. The other four looked at each other and worriedly ran after him to tell him that if he didn't fix that cut on his forehead, he may bleed to death…

**Ash** walked into the main hallway and saw Elliot walk into the hall.

"God Elliot, what happened?" Oh. Ash had seemed to catch on pretty fast. It was a shame. Elliot had wanted to play with this a bit longer but Ash ruined it.

"Oh it's not much, I just decided that I needed to change my image up a bit if I want to reach my goals."

"Not that Elliot, but I'm going to come to that later!" Ash said as he walked towards Elliot whilst whipping out his handkerchief and wiping the blood off of his forehead. "Take those stupid sunglasses off and look at what you've done to yourself! The blood is pretty much all over your clothes! Did a Wingull fly into you or what?"

"B-blood?" Elliot shouted worried.

"Don't worry; it's not that big a cut. Ones on the head always seem worse than they are anyway, but I think you may need to visit the doctors to get it patched up." Ash said whilst giving Elliots forehead on last wipe.

"Wow Ash, is this the guy who owes you a favour?" May asked as her and the other three walked in and saw him. The others looks oddly at May, as they had no idea what she was talking about, but Ash continued the line of discussion.

"Well, I hope not. I wasn't expecting him this soon, it'd be slightly in convenient."

"What are you talking about?" Iris asked.

"I'm leaving tomorrow evening,"

"No not that, I'm talking about the favour-," Iris continued but Dawn cut in.

"What? Leaving?" she cried. A smile crept across Kenny's face.

"Can we focus here?" cried Elliot frantically as he looked in the mirror and tried to mop up the blood.

"Elliot, I just told you to go see the nurse!" Ash told him. The other four looked closely at him and then it clicked.

"Elliot?!"


End file.
